Dead Reality
by lezonne
Summary: Redo of the story "He Was in Me". Raped by her boyfriend, Hermione turns to the comforting, unexpecting arms of Draco Malfoy in her time of need. Dramione in future. Non-consensual sex, talk of suicide and dark themes. Warning: Ron bashing.
1. There's a Moment in Time

Thanks to my new beta, **ashash52009** who's helping me edit through every chapter. If you like the new versions, review on each update because this story needs to be fixed up. Anyways, enjoy!

**Important a/n: **I already have a story like this (He Was In Me) but this time I'm making an alternate ending because looking back I didn't feel satisfied with how things turned out. The plot will be the same for a while, but then I'm going to change things up, and make an alternate to the story I began years ago. The first two chapters for both stories are the same now, because I decided on this late. But, it'll change, so I hope you read and enjoy! Trust me, this one will be a lot better!

Oh, and maybe a review at the end to remind me to focus on this story too, around everything else? It would make my day!

And, just so you know, the first two chapters aren't my favorite, but from there on out it'll be a lot more in character (so I guess this really isn't going to be like He Was in Me when the plots change). I've talked enough though, so go ahead and read :)

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Hermione lay down on her bed again that night. Her face was streaked with tears she had long ago stopped being able to shed. When you go numb how can you continue to cry?

Her hair was sprawled out on the pillow in complete disarray, desperately in need of a good brushing. She hardly cared though, her mind floating elsewhere. She could remember their last encounter. It had been sexually painful and mentally terrifying.

_"Ron! Ron stop your hurting me!" She struggled beneath his body, kicking her legs wildly in an attempt to get him off her. He had her arms pinned above her head, eyes dead of emotion as he stared down at her._

_How could she have let that happen? Hermione Granger, smartest witch of her age, had been overpowered by her boyfriend after telling him she wasn't ready for sex. She had watched in surprise and fear as his eyes grew dark with rage, and he screamed at her that they had been dating long enough! she needed to stop being suck a prude and have a little bit of fun!  
_

She shuddered at the memory, pulling the bedsheets closer to her.

_They had been yelling in her Head Girl bedroom, Ron having come in after Hermione opened the door, thinking that they would just hang out like normal. But in his angered state, choosing that particular room had been bad judgement on Hermione's part. She knew she should've made him walk back out into the living room, but hadn't thought about it._

_At first, she was merely surprised when he jumped on her, pushing her back onto the bed and landing on top of her. Her voice had sprung to life then, telling to to remove himself from her person at once! His throaty voice had cut through her's as he tore open the school uniform top she had been wearing, telling her to just relax and enjoy herself already. His hands found her breasts, and pulled down her plain bra, fingers immediately latching onto her nipples with a rough grip. She howled, and it was then that he held her arms above the her on the mattress._

___"Ron! Ron stop your hurting me!" _

_"Come on 'Mione. You just have to relax and enjoy it." He bent and licked the skin from her cheek to her ear, leaving a wet burning trail that made her fear spike._

_"Ron get off of me! This isn't you!" She squirmed, hoping to deter his determination and make him realize how foolish he was being. Instead, he chuckled and bit down on her ear, obviously hoping for a better reaction. Instead, she cried out and tore her head away from him, her ear bleeding slightly. He gave her a disappointed look._

_"Ah but 'Mione," he said, grinding his hips into hers, "I'm having fun." His dark eyes stared up into her terrified hazel ones, and she felt his chuckle again against her free hand slid down to her skirt and hiked up the hem, his fingers rubbing against her barely covered clit. He was disappointed to find her dry.  
_

_"You're not even a little excited by me," he growled, shoving the cloth aside to rub clumsily against her opening.  
_

"_Stop!" She moved under him, hoping to be able to kick him, but to no avail. She wanted desperately to lose her head and just cry, but it would do her no good. Whatever was wrong with him was beyond her knowledge, and she didn't want to give this new, horrifying boy the satisfaction of her tears. He was becoming too turned on by her begging as it was. "Stop Ron just stop!" She struggled to move away from his hand, desperate for him to get the hint and return to the boy she actually knew.  
_

"_Come on Hermione," he said angryly. He glared down at her, removing his hand to unbuckle the pants he was wearing. "Stop being a bitch and enjoy yourself already." She felt the bile rise in her throat as she fought harder, hoping to come up with some keen thing to say that would stop him in his tracks. The only problem was, panic was taking over and she had no idea what to say._

_As she heard him pull the zipper down, she couldn't stop the first tear that slid down her cheek. This couldn't be happening. After a bit of adjustment on his part, she heard the awful sound of him literally tearing her panties from her body, something hard and invasive touching her most private spot.  
_

_"Ron stop!"  
_

_Her upper body was tender from all the bite marks he had left on her chest and most everywhere else, sickening marks that would mar her skin for days. The bruises would form by tomorrow from the beating he was giving her with his lips and hips. She hadn't wanted one fucking thing like this. She had been in her dorm, minding her own business until he showed up, expecting things from her. He began to rub against her and she felt the tears building again. "Ron you can't!"_

_"I can do whatever I bloody please Hermione," he snapped, pushing roughly into her dry channel, groaning as she let out an involentairy yell of pain. The friction he had caused from that stroke alone had sent pain waves through her, and she whimpered lightly.  
_

Hermione had never wanted Draco Malfoy to return to their dorm as much as she had that day, since he was the only other person who could possibly help her. She buried her head into the pillows as the memory continued.

_She could scream but the walls had been cast sound proof to anyone outside the dorm. Ron obviously did not expect Draco to be back for several more hours. So no matter how loud she screamed it wouldn't matter till he came back. And by then Ron might be long gone._

_If she had her wand she would've hexed his dick off, just for even attempting between the waves of pain she knew if she had the opportunity, she could manage that. But her wand was several feet too far away, and as he began to thrust in and out of her, her mind blanked, reveling in nothing but the amount of pain he was conflicting on her. He was supposed to be her friend! Her boyfriend, who loved her and would never hurt her like this!  
_

_He continued his onslaught, ignoring her pleas to stop. She barely registered the dorm door opening, and the rushing footsteps into the bedroom seconds later.  
_

_Ron wasn't even out of her before the pale hands were gripping his shoulders and pulling him off. Through the slight mist in her vision she could make out his terrified expression as he looked up at the blond. She didn't even bother turning her head. as he was jerked off, an unusual warmth filling her seconds before.  
_

_She closed her eyes, hearing Ron yelp as Draco hit him, the same noise sounding several times more before she heard two sets of feet departing the room.  
_

_She groaned, the space between her legs sore as she heard the portrait slam shut, and the sound of hurried footsteps back into the room. She panicked, fearing who it was, until she saw Draco's blond hair in her vision again.  
_

_"Fuck."  
_

_Draco had put her in his bed that night and left her there to calm down. Her mind had been dazed and he'd cast a short spell to try to ease her thoughts. There had been no sleep that night, and her sobs had at some point stopped when she dehydrated herself. She drank from the glass of water by the bed until morning, but Draco himself never dared to come in and check on her. The next morning he'd brought her some clothes and left her to dress. That was all._

It was now three days later but she still felt like shit. She could drink however much she wanted but she normally passed out after to much alcohol. So she could never drink her pain away permanently. It would only fade till the next morning and the cycle would repeat itself.

She hated her weakness in the aftermath of her situation, but she hated him more. She hated what he had done, hated him for not using a contraception spell or a muggle condom, but mostly she hated him for betraying her in such a way. She hated the fact that she now trusted Draco Malfoy more then the redhead she had grown up around.

Hermione had yet to return to class. So far, she had made people believe that she was sick, but Malfoy knew better. He kept looking down at her with uncertain grey eyes, like he wasn't sure whether or not it was alright to speak to her, even touch her, but Hermione instigated that herself. She had thrown herself against him the morning following her rape, right after he had come in to check on her, and she had cried against his chest, a numb feeling overtaking her. Instead of offering the comfort of a hug, he had stood rod still, completely thrown with the entire situation.

Hermione had yet to thank him for his uncharacteristic thoughtfulness however. Her mind was other places; the rape, the possibility that he had indeed intended to get her pregnant with that rape.

She refused to start any night with a dreamless sleep. She was determined to make the nightmares go away on her own. And each night when that failed she would finally take Draco's assistance, with him coming in during the early hours of morning when he couldn't take her screams. Bull headed and stubborn, that's all she was.

She never understood why Draco dealt with all this-and kept her secret after she begged him to. He helped her-but they were not in debt to one another. He'd seen her naked and he could've very easily joined Ron-the whole student body knew his reputation with girls yet he helped get rid of a rapist for her, and had then carried her to his bed and left her there without even letting a stray hand touch anything.

She clutched a blanket over her form. She'd skipped going to town with the other students, and thrown her music out the window-plus bought brand new bedding and a bed-though she hardly ever slept in her room. For the first few days when she hadn't moved she'd slept in Draco's room, on his bed in his warm sheets, till she began faking an illness and he took back his bed. It had never been offered that she sleep in his room again but Hermione knew as well as Draco that it was an open option.

She knew that he would help her, for whatever reason. Draco Malfoy was nothing if not a strange, complicated character. He might have something against rape, but she still had friends who could just as easily take his place. He didn't exactly _have _to stay and watch out for her.

Sighing, she leaned further into her bed. The problem was, she seemed to _favor _his presence above all else. She blamed it on his heroic efforts the day Ron violated her.

_Ron. _Her eyes snapped to the door. It was locked and sealed, right? She shook. "Ron can't get in." She wrapped her arms around her knees, picturing blond hair and mysterious grey eyes. Eyes that could only be Draco Malfoy's.

Draco wasn't her boyfriend-he was a friend that saw her getting raped. They were more distant then even her and Harry or Ginny now because of what he saw. They hadn't seen him having sex with her! But that factor wasn't important, Hermione hadn't been close to Harry, Ginny or any of her other friends in a long time.

Not since Ron changed, not since Neville stopped coming to school, not since Ginny started acting weird, and not since Malfoy saved her. The day that everything changed.

Somehow, the tears came again. She didn't know how they continued, but they did. Draco offered her food every night then left-probably disgusted by her. But she lost weight remarkably fast-so she needed the offered food-though it mostly went untouched most nights. He was trying but Hermione was almost positive she was a lost cause. She didn't want to eat, she just had no longing to, although she felt like she was completely starved if she didn't eat something every few hours.

They lie to you on television. They say rape is the worst part-when its happening. They're dead wrong.

Rape only lasts so long. Eventually the man tires and leaves.

No, its the after affects that will kill you.


	2. And It's Stuck in My Mind

**A/n: **I know it's been a while, but tada! Here's chapter two, and I've sent it off to my beta to be edited. Whenever it returns, it'll be automatically posted. I apologize for the long wait, but I got sidetracked with some of my other stories. Still, I like the chapter anyways, and hope you do too!

And as an early note, thanks to my beta **ashash52009**!

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****Chapter names!** Chapter names are done after the lyrics to The Offspring's song _Kristy are You Doing Okay? _Except, I'll substitute the name :)

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**danibs: **I'm still trying for that, let me know if I succeed :)

**Bambi: **Yeah, I like that too :) And here you go! It's just later then I wanted...

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It had been several days since Harry Potter had heard anything about his best friend, Hermione. Ron had gone to see her a while back, but he returned to Gryffindor common room in an angry manner, and Harry had decided the two must've had a fight. However, something as silly-or heartbreaking, depending-as a fight would never keep the bookworm girl away from her studies, right?

Well, Harry was determined to find out. He would've asked Ginny to do it, you know, _girl_ talk and all, but she was nowhere to be found this fine morning. He had a free period to start off the day with, and he intended to go up to the dorm she shared with ferret-boy and see what the problem was.

_Maybe Malfoy is the problem. _His expression darkened as he climbed the stairs. If Malfoy was the problem, that could only mean he had done something sinister, and then Harry would just have to make him pay for her. It was only fair, right?

He reached the portrait and knocked several times, annoying the stout man who was sitting at a table within the frame. His dark eyes turned and glared at Harry, who just shrugged sheepishly.

After another ten knocks and the portrait was finally thrown open, revealing a very tired looking Malfoy, who also seemed to have no class this hour. _Of course not_, Harry thought, _we all have potions next hour together. _That thought did little to brighten his mood.

"Malfoy," Harry said tightly, "where is Hermione? She hasn't been to class in forever. What did you do?"

The blond boy almost laughed at the Gryffindors stupidity. How could he not know what had happened between his two best friends? _Weasley probably didn't have the guts to say anything, afraid of getting in trouble. And Granger...well, she would never say anything anyways. _"I didn't do anything Potter," he grumbled instead, leaving the entrance entirely to go and fall back down on the couch. "Go see her if you must, but don't bloody bother me again."

Harry was taken aback by Malfoy's uncharacteristic behavior. There were no insults, crude remarks, challenges to get in, nothing. On further inspection he realized the blond looked tired, and he didn't care to consider why. He had a reputation that everyone knew about, even the men unfortunately.

He had never seemed quite so on edge, however. Deciding it would be best to simply ignore the situation, the dark haired boy turned and walked to the closed bedroom door that he knew to be Hermione's. The other room had the smell of strong cologne drifting out of it, and Granger had never been one to sleep around.

He knocked twice on the hard wood. "Hermione?"

The girl's bushy head shot off of her pillow. She would know that voice anywhere, and unfortunately it wasn't someone she wanted to face. How could she?

Scrambling from the bed, her body sore from remaining in the same position for so long, she snatched up a pair of muggle jeans. "Just a second Harry," she called, searching for a long shirt. Without success, she grabbed her favorite t-shirt and a jumper, sliding them on clumsily, before she timidly walked to the door.

Honestly, she wasn't ready to face anyone. Malfoy was just barely an exception, and it was only because they shared a room, and he bothered to save her. Harry was completely different. He was her best friend now, certainly, right in front of Ginny even, but she felt naked going to see him. He was also best friends to Ron, and Ron had completely betrayed her.

Who's to say the redhead had not made up a lie?

Against everything her mind was telling her to do, she opened the door and stared up at Harry. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of a blond bit of hair, and couldn't decide if she liked that he was there or not.

Her friend looked startled. "Merlin Hermione, you look a mess!"

Her face blanched. She couldn't imagine any of the bruises showing, since she had been particularly careful to cover them with a long lasting concealment charm the first morning. She tried to brush it off however. "That's what every girl wants to hear."

He chuckled, and she sighed in relief. It wasn't the bruises then.

"Sorry," he said, seeming to relax a bit. "You just look like you've had a fight with your covers. Your hair is miles high."

Hermione's hands instantly reached up and grabbed her hair, which had recently turned from an uncomfortable mess into beautiful controlled waves, but was still a bit puffy in the night. "Oh goodness!"

He nodded. "Where have you been," he asked slowly, noticing the fact that she did not once invite him into her room to get away from Malfoy.

She inwardly cringed, but worked to keep her face void of the scared expression. She couldn't possibly tell him what Ron had done; she would be either a liar or he would run at the mere thought. No, the truth was out of the question.

Now Malfoy's blond head was completely visible, and his arms were crossed lazily in front of him as he waited for her answer. Merlin help her, he wanted to see her excuse.

"I've been sick," she said, attempting the same lie she had been using for days. Harry looked a bit skeptical, and she was sure she saw Draco's blond head shaking back and forth.

"You don't look too sick," he said, eyeing her. "You must be feeling better then."

Her heart dropped to her stomach. Of course she didn't look sick, simply because Malfoy hadn't questioned her lies. She had no reason to dress the part, but with Harry, she should've considered the fact that she looked fine with all the evidence hidden. Maybe rather pale, but fine.

"Yes," she said, glancing around the room. "I think I feel a little better."

"Great," he agreed, trying to ignore her strangled voice. "You'll come to potions then?"

She flinched, and he frowned. Of course she didn't want to go to potions! Ron took potions with them, as did Neville, and knowing Ron, he would try to snatch her up to sit by him. She had no desire to be in the same room as him, and she wanted to sink into the floor at that thought. He would never be so stupid as to hurt her in public, but still. She just didn't want to be near him.

"Yes," she lied, hoping she could avoid him and skip the class entirely. Afterwards she had advanced Arithmancy, which she shared with Malfoy, Dean and Neville. That class she would be fine going to, but potions was out of the question. So long as Harry thought she was going, it would be okay.

_I can't believe I'm letting that encounter cause me to lie to Harry. I'm bloody pathetic._

Harry grinned. "Great! I've got to go though, Pavarti tricked me into helping her with a bit of Herbology, so her hands don't get dirty." He rolled his eyes and Hermione forced out a laugh, but it sounded hollow even to her ears.

After a few more minutes, Harry left after she promised twice more to go to potions, knowing Malfoy was within hearing distance the whole time. Once the portrait hole shut, she darted back to her room and spun to shut the door; Malfoy, as though psychic, had bounded across the room and gripped the door tightly.

"Wait," he snapped, and she stopped trying to force the door closed, but her grip remained. "You better get ready - shower maybe, before class starts," he continued, shoving the door back hard enough so she was forced to let go.

She looked up at him. "I'm not going."

"Oh, yes you are. Sit by Potter or something," he drawled, rolling his eyes. "Don't hide out up here anymore, or you'll never leave. Stop moping around already Granger."

"Moping," she cried, shoving the heavy blond away. "It's not moping! You try being-" She cut herself off, looking elsewhere.

Draco felt his resolve to be angry at her shrink a little. How could he be angry, when she was still so horribly broken? He wanted to make an angry, cruel retort back, but he held it on the tip of his tongue.

"Just come to class," he snapped, detaching his emotion. No, it would do no good to be mean, but his emotions involving this matter were completely confused, and he would rather cut them off completely then have some strange comment slip.

She shook her head. "No."

"Well then you're letting Weasley win," he snapped, again rolling his eyes. "He got you and now you can't even face him. Great confidence Granger, way to feed his twisted mind."

Before she could reply, he stomped away to his bedroom and slammed the door, leaving her alone. She blinked twice, unsure what to make of things.

_Way to feed his twisted mind. _She shuddered, and gripped the door handle. There was no way she could face him, even if all it was doing was feeding his mind.

* * *

Draco slouched in his potions desk. Blaise Zabini sat beside him, waiting for class to start. Blaise thought the blond's attitude was rather strange, but opted to wait and see what was wrong. He was sure to take it out on some Gryffindor during this hour, and he would much rather see that.

Although he damn near asked Draco what the hell was going on when he saw Granger walk into the room, and he boy sat a little straighter, although a scowl was still evident on his face. What did _that_ mean?

The next thing that happened was even stranger. Granger brushed past her two best friends, Potter and Weasley, to sit beside Neville Longbottom who looked rather alarmed. Potter seemed completely confused by this, but Weasley glared, as though hoping he could burn a hole in the back of her head.

_Maybe that's what he was trying for_ Blaise thought amusingly.

Potions class began, with Malfoy constantly glancing across the room at Granger, Potter and Weasley who were all in front of their desk on the opposite side, and Blaise wondering why he was so interested in them. Twice, Ron walked past her desk and tripped while gathering potion ingredients. Once, he dropped some on her lap and one of the ingredients burned two holes in her skirt, causing her to jump away into Neville, knocking the poor boy over. Snape took away forty points for the disruption.

The second time, most of the class was busy gathering the next set of items from the back of the class, and he tripped, purposefully catching her face with his hand as he did so. Zabini blinked several times, unsure whether or not her had just seen the ginger 'accidentally' purposefully slap Granger.

The only other person to be around then was Malfoy, and Weasel sent him a dirty look as he passed. Draco drew his wand and silently hexed the boy with a simple beauty charm, watching his red hair turn purple. Snape didn't deduct any points for that.

Blaise realized that Draco had also caught the action. How could he possibly consider doing that in a school room of all places. Granger looked horrified, and excused herself from class to Professor Snape, who hadn't caught any of the actions preceding the purple hair. Their teacher watched the girl go with a blank expression, quietly cursing those Gryffindors.

"What do you suppose that was about?" Zabini asked his pale friend, several minutes later as they were gathering their things. Longbottom had been kind enough to collect Hermione's things for her, and he was now holding both piles of books.

Draco hesitated, and Blaise wondered what that meant. "Not sure. Perhaps we should keep a closer eye on Weasley."

Now the Italian was startled. "You want to watch out for Granger? I thought you hated her, Malfoy."

His head whipped around, and Blaise was surprised by the fury within. "I don't. I just don't think his little move earlier was alright either."

He shrugged, grabbing his bag as the bell rang. "Whatever you say mate."

On the walk to Arithmancy, Draco couldn't stop thinking about why he was so angry over all of this. Merlin, he was the one that told her to get to class anyways, so why was he so concerned?

_Because, you already know what he did before._

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**A/n: **Review and let me know your thoughts?_  
_


	3. Way Back When We Were Just Kids

**A/n: **Sorry for the wait! I hope you guys like it anyways :) And sorry it's not the most exciting chapter, there will be better stuff but ahead if you stick around for it! Thanks to my beta **ashash2009**!

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**anon: **Glad to hear it! It's not exactly soon, but tada!

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Draco was out of Arithmancy finally, walking with Blaise towards what he considered to be the worst class of the day; Care of Magical Creatures with that oaf. Even worse, it was another class that held only Slytherin's and Gryffindors. Why, oh why, did there have to be so many classes with the Gryffindors?

Blaise was saying something when thick, brown hair caught Draco's attention. Glancing behind him now, he saw Granger racing off in the direction of their dorm. Dammit! He had been enjoying his day (mostly) but now he was wondering how Granger was going to move on with her life if all she did was hide in their dorm. They shared the next class, and he was sure if he told the teacher they had been dealing with Head's work that he would ignore their tardiness. He cursed himself.

"What was that?" Blaise asked, glancing over.

"Nothing," he groaned, stopping his walk. "Tell that oaf I have some Head's business to deal with."

His friend raised a sharp eyebrow, interested. "We both know you don't have any heads business to take care of, so what gives Malfoy?"

Draco frowned. "I just need to go grab Granger," he said quickly, spinning around to pursue the girl before she got too far away.

"Grab her? What does that mean," he called over the crowd, drawing a few looks, but Malfoy was already too far away. The Italian turned away, shaking his head.

_'I wonder if he's about to go bother her about that incident in potions?' Blaise thought to himself._

The blond was becoming rather annoyed. Too may fucking underclassmen were blocking his way to Granger. Merlin if he should care so much! This was Granger for fuck's sake, and he barely tolerated the girl! Fine, he pitied her for what happened, but he didn't need to be concerning himself so much.

But dammit, he was concerned. He was beginning to wonder if Hogwarts brightest student would hide away in her dorm until the Headmistress was forced to intervene. Hey, it could happen!

However, he was trudging after her, schoolbag feeling quite a bit heavier. Did the girl have to move so bloody fast? Merlin, she didn't move half as fast the night-

_No, don't go there Draco. Those were completely different circumstances, and she was not in the position to move quickly. This is completely different! Don't think about it like that. _He shook his head, continuing his trek up to the school.

He spotted Granger up ahead of him as he rounded a corner; the girl running towards her room. He quickly drew his wand and muttered a spell to make her slow down, and silence her because he was positive she would scream. _Now she'll think its Weasley again, or that I am going to kill her. Great…_

He walked up in front of her and took off both spells, dropping his bag to clutch her shoulders. She looked horrified for a moment until he spoke. "Will you calm down? I'm not going to bloody hurt you Granger!"

She threw his hands away. "Leave me alone Malfoy! I don't want to deal with anyone at the moment." She hugged her bag closer and moved to pass him, but he caught her forearm again.

"Stop this!"

"Stop what?" she asked, relieved that his grip at least wasn't painful.

"This," he snapped, turning to glare at her. "You are running away from Weasley simply because you know you have class with him next."

She frowned, "Hardly."

He smirked, picking up his own bag without releasing her arm, "Great! Then let's go off to class, shall we?"

Her legs suddenly wanted to freeze, but the annoying Slytherin she shared a dorm with just drug her down the hall. "Malfoy, I'm really not feeling well-"

"Bullshit," he snaps, continuing to drag her towards the outside classroom. They were now on the Grand Staircase, receiving strange looks as they passed. "You are simply avoiding Weasley, like I said before, and I won't have it. You will not mope around in our common room, scared, the entire year. It'll really put a damper on the bloody parties I plan to throw."

"Parties?"

"Yes parties," he snapped. They were outside of the castle now, and on their way to Hagrid's class, Malfoy still towing her along. "And those parties will not be stopped simply because you are afraid of everyone finding out. Merlin! If you really want to bother the bloke, why don't you just pretend you're not bothered by him at all? That should get under his skin."

She felt her fear instantly grow. "Are you bloody crazy Malfoy? He would kill me for that if he found me alone!"

The blond shook his head. "Really Granger? And how often have you been alone since 'it' happened? I doubt he could catch you alone for a minute. Now stop worrying so much and walk on your own; I'm not explaining why I had to drag you to class."

Hermione quickly pulled free of his grip and walked beside him, not daring to move away. She would not step away from him until she had a clear path to Harry, completely avoiding Ron. She refused to get close to him under any circumstances.

They quickly reached the class after that, all eyes were drawn to the unlikely pair that walked in together. Gryffindor eyebrows shot up and Slytherin eyes narrowed.

"What's this then?" Hagrid asked, looking at the two very late students.

Draco shrugged a single shoulder, wandering over to Blaise and Daphne Greengrass. Granger thankfully stepped away from him as they passed Potter, and he didn't miss the fact that she scooted away when Weasley tried to grab her. He smirked.

Apparently, Blaise didn't miss Hermione avoiding Weasley either. The Italian had a very high arched eyebrow as Draco slid himself between the pair, resting his arm on the fencepost behind him.

"Interesting how Granger is avoiding Weasley at all costs, don't you think?" Blaise asked as Draco took his seat.

Malfoy nodded, knowing his friend would catch the action, after the stunt in potions. "He isn't very careful, is he?" the Italian continued.

"Hardly. Potter would notice the odd behavior if he weren't so dense."

Blaise chuckled, ignoring whatever the teacher was saying. "Possibly, or he would ignore it entirely."

Hermione was practically leaning on a very uncomfortable Harry. "Is there a problem Hermione," he whispered, so as to not interrupt their favorite teacher, unlike the arrogant Slytherin's next to Malfoy.

Hermione shrugged and tried to smile as she answered her best friend. "Just feeling a bit light headed," was the only lie she could come up with.

"Want me to take you up to the hospital wing," Ron cut in, glaring at her.

She instantly moved away from both of them, bumping into Seamus as she did so. He gave her a strange look before ignoring the girl again. "No, I'm fine Ron," she said quickly, looking down. She would look anywhere if it meant she didn't have to see him.

As Hagrid talked, she found herself unable to focus. Every few seconds her eyes moved to the ginger boy, hoping he hadn't stepped away to stand on her other side. It was happening too frequently, and she soon stopped herself. Merlin, had Malfoy been right? Was she letting Ron control her now? If only through fear?

She vaguely heard Hagrid tell them to pair up and take notes on the strange creatures currently caged, and Hermione apparently heard it a second too late. Ron's strong grip was on her arm suddenly, far too tight, and he was grinning at her.

"Let's be partners," he said, moving his eyebrows at her as his eyes slid up and down her body. Oh god, she could already feel the bile rise in her throat.

"Actually Ron," she said shakingly, glancing around. Harry had already gone off with Seamus, and it appeared everyone had found a partner, except a few Slytherin's who seemed to be arguing amongst themselves. One of those Slytherin's just happened to be Malfoy. "I-I was informed today that the Heads should be partners in all classes! I doubt Hagrid knows yet," she rushed her words, trying to pull free.

"You're lying Hermione," he hissed.

Draco watched the pair from his place beside Daphne, who was complaining to Blaise that she would not work with Crabble, who had found some new friends recently. Draco watched her trying to pull free, and apparently this seemed common enough to the other students, who were paying Ron and Hermione no mind, but Draco knew better.

He didn't really want to cause a scene. Glancing back at the two, he spoke. "I actually think I've found another partner. You can partner with Daphne, Blaise," he continued, nodding to the Italian. He didn't wait to hear their responses, just grabbed his bag, slung it over his shoulder, and walked towards Ron and Hermione, hoping to ruin Weasley's day.

"If you would kindly remove yourself from my partner," Draco spoke evenly; interrupting whatever the boy had been about to snap at Granger, "I'd actually like to get this fucking assignment done."

The ginger's eyes flared, and he couldn't help but smirk, well this could be fun. "Your partner? Hardly Malfoy, you're just going to make her life hell-"

"Like you haven't already," he countered immediately, not missing a beat.

Ron's eyes narrowed, "Excuse me?"

"Don't push it Weasley; I know a hell of a lot more about your illegal activates at the present time than you do mine. It would be a shame really for your pathetic, traitor family to have a son sent to Azkaban as well." Draco had leaned forwards a bit, making sure to get in his face in a menacing manner, so that to onlookers it seemed they were talking about the normal topics.

Ron glared, "Don't threaten me," he said in a low voice.

Draco shrugged, as he grabbing Granger's arm to pull her free. He was surprised when the redhead let go entirely and stalked away. Obviously, he wasn't in the mood for a fight just then, which was fine with the blond who glanced at Granger. She was soothingly rubbing her arm.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

He rolled his eyes. "Don't thank me yet Granger; you have to take all the bloody notes."

The blond was irritated to realize they would be taking notes the rest of class, and leaned back against a tree stump as Granger took the notes for them both. He noticed the Weasel glaring at him from the other side of the pile of cages, seeming to be biting his lip.

_Pathetic, I could take that boy in my sleep. _Draco smirked, wondering how that would go since he had already kicked Ron's arse once.

About halfway through the rest of the lesson, Granger spoke again, "Malfoy?"

"What?" Draco answered.

She hesitated. "Why?"

He groaned, "Why what Granger? Be specific, I don't have all day to sit here."

There was a pregnant pause before she spoke again, and Draco had begun to think she wouldn't explain at all. "Why did you pull me away from Ron back there?"

"Ah, that. Well it's simple really Granger; you looked ready to run away, and he looked ready to jump you. Not the best situation for class really," He finished with an arrogant shrug, "You could always just say thank you."

She almost laughed. That sounded like Malfoy; demanding the grateful thank you for him assisting in something she hadn't even asked for. "Thanks, I guess. You are a better partner then him, I suppose."

"You suppose? I'm not going to – I'm not ugly," he corrected quickly, making sure he didn't say anything about what happened between the two Gryffindor's. He could just see her rushing off to the castle again, and a bunch of angry Gryffindors getting in his face for upsetting her. Not the kind of morning he wanted.

Hermione nodded. "Thanks," she muttered again.

They didn't talk again the rest of class. She walked up beside Harry towards the castle for lunch, and Draco's eyes were watching the Weasel closely.

* * *

**A/n: **Leave a review if you have something to say!


	4. Cause Your Eyes Told the Tale

**A/n: **Here I am again! I know, these updates are too far apart for how short they are, but really, my original goal was short chapters with frequent updates. Trust me people, I am trying to update as quickly as I possibly can! Thanks to my beta **ashash2009**!

**Bambi: **Well, here's more!

* * *

Draco had been considering the situation surrounding Hermione all day. She was still so terrible afraid and careful around people that it was sad to watch. Even in the two classes he had with her it was obvious that she was uncomfortable, and Weasley had not been present in the last one today. Blaise had commented on this dilemma twice now, and the blond was beginning to wonder who close to the truth his friend would keep guessing.

His unfocused grey eyes stared off into the distance as he thought. It didn't take a genius to know that Draco Malfoy had absolutely no idea what was going on around him. Zabini had thrown a dinner roll at him that barely missed, and Malfoy took no notice. The boy was now snickering with Pansy Parkinson, who still couldn't figure out what exactly had his attention either. She knew he was looking in the general direction of Gryffindor table, but couldn't pinpoint who he was watching. It definitely couldn't be the Mudblood, could it?

Blaise however was slightly more informed, and knew exactly who his friend was watching. He had been speculating all about Granger since lunch, and now that dinner had come around, it seemed he was watching her and her dear little Gryffindor friends.

Finally, Zabini nudged him enough to draw his attention. The blond glanced over skeptically, "What?"

He rolled his eyes. "Oy Malfoy, you have been staring at Granger the entire meal. Can you be even more obvious?"

Draco shrugged, "I'm watching."

"For what, to see if her pumpkin juice poisons her and she falls over dead?" Blaise took a bite of the chicken he was eating. "Staring at Granger isn't going to make the situation between you three any better."

Draco frowned. "Three? You can't possibly be including Weasley too."

"Oh, but I am." Blaise grinned at his friend. "Weasley is playing just as much a role in this game as you two. Whatever he does, you stop. He attacks her and it gets to you. There are three pieces in that puzzle, you see." He took another bite of food, "Granger is the unwilling participant. The attacks come at her, and you reject them. Weasley gets at her, and you step in between. It's an interesting little set up actually."

The blond scoffed. "You noticed all of this from this morning."

"Since potions," Zabini corrected, watching the table as well now. "It seems that you have put a very strong wall up around her since our ginger friend decided to… attack her in public, I guess that's what you can call it. Weasley seems to have noticed that you will get in the way during the day, as well."

"I suppose," Draco grumbled.

"So," Blaise continued, ignoring the irritated tone in his friend's voice, "What exactly happened to cause the Weasel to become so violent towards his girlfriend?"

Draco paused. Granger had begged him not to reveal anything about what had happened, and although he had kept his promise thus far he was tempted to indulge the Italian with tales of the twisted mind of Ronald Weasley. After all, Blaise had a warped sense of humor, and could always come up with some interesting things to throw at the redhead

Besides, if Granger was still dating the bastard, he would personally have to kill her. The girl would be a complete idiot! Who continues to date the man that rapes them, especially if they have an outlet? In this case, it was Draco himself, because he knew about the things that had happened between the two Gryffindor's. There was absolutely no excuse for Granger to be putting herself back through that kind of emotional hell.

With a jerk of his head, he decided Blaise could be an interesting ally. He didn't necessarily need to tell Granger immediately that his best mate knew about the most horrifying moment in her existence, but he would tell her… eventually, once she calmed down from the event in general.

Blaise caught the hint and stood quickly, Malfoy following behind. They had just started walking when Pansy spoke, "Where are you two going?"

Draco barely spared her the time to reply. "We are off to talk to Snape," he replied evenly, before leaving without her reply. The pair was nearly out of the hall when a group of three exited before them; the blond duly noted the discomfort evident on Granger's face as she walked beside 'Ronald'.

As they passed each other, Weasley glared at the blond. "Malfoy."

"Weasel." He wasn't looking at the ginger however, but the girl between the two males who was nervously playing with her fingers. The boy beside him noted this as well, and glanced between the three faces.

"How are you Granger," Blaise asked kindly, catching the three off guard. Blaise had never particularly targeted them for torture like Malfoy had, but he was still notorious for belittling Gryffindor's before the war. There hadn't been any rumors about that since the school had reopened and resumed, however.

She glanced between the two boys, wondering why Draco's friend suddenly seemed so very… friendly. Placing a fake smile on her face like she had been doing often lately, she replied, "Just fine."

The Italian could already hear the strangeness in her voice. If he recalled, Malfoy had always ranted about Granger having a very snobbish-attitude and witty comebacks. Obviously, Weasley's abuse had done more to her then he was originally led to believe. _If there is any abuse here. He could just be tormenting her… I guess. _

Although she had been quieter in class recently, he had not noticed these differences there. Granted, he rarely noticed the girl at all unless Draco was mumbling about 'dirty little Mudbloods' or something else to that degree during meals.

"You look a bit pale," he continued, edging into what he could only guess to be questionable territory. Immediately, three very different reactions happened; Granger tensed, Draco twitched, and Weasley clenched his hands.

_Interesting. _He noted that Potter looked just as out of the picture as he felt. Apparently, they were both out of this little game, at least for now. _Well, we'll see. I may get to know more then our dear little 'savior'. _He almost chuckled at this thought, but stopped himself.

"Yes," she said, looking more worried now then before, "I have been feeling ill." It didn't look like even she believed that, but she said it anyways.

Zabini's eyebrow rose as Weasley reached over and snatched up one of her hands, stopping her obsessive finger movements. It had appeared that she was pointing at something for a bit, until her fingers started dancing all over out of anxiety, and he gave up thinking she was signaling something. However, the grip Weasley had on her hand looked a tad too tight, even from the distance between them.

"Yes," the redhead said, looking pointedly at Malfoy now, "we were all going up to the common room to rest for a while, before Hermione goes to sleep." The girl's eyes were masked, but Blaise got the feeling that it didn't mean anything good.

"Ah, good then," Malfoy replied coolly, watching Potter blink again, thoroughly confused. "I'm heading to my room to study for a while, so I guess we are going in the same direction."

"We are going to Gryffindor common room," Ron hissed, pulling on her harm.

"I see," Malfoy replied coolly, remembering to keep his temper down. Anyone with eyes could see she was in pain, but he was not going to jump to her rescue just then. He wanted to see if Saint Potter would catch anything odd.

The dark haired boy's eyes were watching his two best friends warily. "Ron," he said finally, "I think you are pulling a bit hard."

Weasley dropped her arm entirely, face masked. Hermione grabbed her opposite arm and held it against her body in what appeared to most as her just folding her arms against her chest, but Zabini thought it looked more like a cradle for the very red skin. He frowned.

This seemed to satisfy Potter that she was no longer being pulled on, and he stopped worrying entirely. "Come on, lets go," he said, turning and walking away. It was strange enough to have a conversation with Malfoy around that didn't involve insults, but one where his friend was concerned about Hermione? That was too weird.

The trio turned then and departed, Granger barely sparing a glance back at them. Malfoy caught her eyes and was surprised to see the same blank, disbelief that he had seen the morning after the attack.

Why would her eyes be nothing but blank disbelief now? She was going off with Potter, so Weasley couldn't possibly try anything on her without another person seeing. Despite Draco's belief that he had a low IQ, even the Weasel wasn't that stupid.

The two watched the Gryffindor's go; ignoring the odd looks they had been receiving from exiting students. When they were finally out of site, Blaise grabbed Draco's shoulder. "Now what did you want to talk about?"

He shook his head sternly. "Not here."

* * *

The Italian was staring at Malfoy in disbelief. "He wouldn't Draco; that's low, even for Weasley."

He frowned. "Despite your 'disbelief', I did see this with my own eyes. It's twisted, and although I am not supposed to be talking about this, I am. I don't think Granger is going to get any better if she just parades around with Weasel and Potter like nothing is wrong. One of them assaulted her, and the other is oblivious to that bloody fact."

"Then what do you propose Malfoy? The girl is obviously not going to accept help, and it doesn't seem like she wants it. If she did, she would've told someone."

He shrugged. "I'm not certain Blaise. I've never dealt with this before! I don't know how people react to this, but I don't think Granger's reaction is so different from everyone else's."

"Then what Malfoy? You are going to help her get better? You're going to spend the time to make sure she is alright? That doesn't sound like you – to make a commitment. I've never known you to follow through with anything, even being a Death Eater was something you seemed to struggle with."

Draco clenched his jaw. "That's completely different Zabini. This is a choice; that was a childhood mistake."

"That was two years ago! Only one, if you count until the war ended." Blaise rolled his eyes, waiting to see what his blond companion would say next.

The boy sighed. "I don't know Blaise. I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do. She isn't my problem; I know that. I could just as easily turn her over to Potter with a story and let her explain all by herself, and get myself out of this mess." He turned and punched and nearest thing, which happened to be the wall; he bit on his lip hard to fight the instant throbbing in his hand, "but I fucking can't."

The darker boy inclined his eyebrow, interested. "Why not? Like you said before, Granger can be out of your hair almost instantly if you drag Potter into this. It's her own problem whether or not he believes her."

He groaned. "I know! But I feel I must help the… the fucking Mudblood!"

Blaise noticed his hesitation to call her that, but didn't say anything. He was obviously quite torn over the entire topic. "But why?"

"Because," Draco said, falling back onto his bed with a huff, "I can't get her expression out of my mind. Whenever I see her I can remember the pain and the terror on her face and it's haunting me. I can't stand it! Weasley did this yes, but it shouldn't be bothering me so much. I did my job getting her out of the situation, and now I've done more then I need to by helping her in class. It's too much! I'm too engrossed in this problem for it to be healthy."

"You are," Zabini agreed. "but at least you don't leave her on her own."

He sat up, "Weren't you just agreeing with me that I should dump her at Potter's feet and be done with this?"

The Italian shrugged, grinning. "I was just asking questions to see _your _responses, Malfoy."

The blond glared. "That's not why I brought you into this Zabini."

Blaise inclined an eyebrow, "Why then?"

With a sigh, Draco spoke, "If I am so bloody stuck on this problem, then I'm going to need your assistance to make Weasley's life hell."

* * *

**A/n: **What do you think Blaise/Draco are going to come up with? Let me know in a review!


	5. Of an Act of Betrayal

**A/n: **Another chapter! I'm not sure its my best, but here it is :) I'll try to have the next one out soon, so send in the feedback! Thanks to my beta **ashash52009**!

**Bambi: **Here we go :)

* * *

She was exceptionally uncomfortable, even with Harry walking beside her. It was the boy on her other side that had her nervously playing with her fingers. Having Ron in such close proximity made her heart pound wildly against her rib cage, and caused her to feel as though her airways were just a bit too tight. If Harry was not there she would be running as fast as she could in the opposite direction, but he was, and that promised her a safe atmosphere at least for now.

They finally reached the common room and entered the crowded space. She made sure to take a seat against the arm of the couch and drag Harry down beside her; forcing an irritated Ron to sit opposite her on another sofa instead. He glared at her as the pair began a match of wizard's chest, and she was grateful for the time. Now she could catch up on reading.

Halfway through their match she felt a hard kick against her shin and she squeaked, drawing Harry's attention. A sidelong look at Ron instantly warned her that saying anything would be bad for her, and she forced down the impending fear in her chest and smiled, hoping it didn't look like a grimace. "Sorry, thought I saw something on the other side of the common room," she lied, not specifying what. Both boys looked in the direction, Ron to simply play along, and then quickly resumed the game.

_Oh Harry, why must you be so naïve about what's happening right now? _She tried to focus on her book, hoping to escape soon.

A few minutes later, the game was over and Harry yawned. "Well, I'm off to bed," he said, waving goodnight to the pair as he headed for the stairs.

She immediately felt her panic spike. _Oh no no no! S_he had been too caught up in her book to notice how late it was getting, and that the common room was nearly empty except for a couple on a large couch on the other side of the common room.

"Me too," she said quickly, shoving her book into her bag and attempting to slip past, only to feel Ron's steely grip on her arm.

"Where do you think your going," he said, spinning her arm. She watched his hand move to his trousers and rub as he looked her over, and the bile rose in her throat. Not that again.

"It's late," she said, pulling free of his grip in his distracted state and took a few steps back. "I have head things to discuss with Malfoy tonight, and-"

"I'm sure plans with the fucking ferret can wait," he snapped, eyes darkening at the mention of her blond roommate. "There's no need to be getting back to him Hermione, he's bad news."

_You're bad news! _"He's not so bad Ron," she said, noticing to her great disappointment that the couple had fallen asleep on their couch and were not awake to help her. She glanced back at the redhead who had stood from the couch and was coming towards her. "Besides, he's quite nice when you get to know him," she continued nervously, knowing it was not the best thing to say, but unsure what else to tell him.

His eyes flashed dangerously. "_Nice? _There is absolutely _nothing _nice about Malfoy, and you know that! Now come here and stop being so stubborn," he demanded, pausing to fold his arms tightly over this chest and glare.

She shook her head. "I really need to get back Ron." The wand in her pocket was digging into her skin, but she resisted the urge to grab it. What would he do to her the next time they met up if she hexed him? Definitely nothing good.

He frowned. "You need to stay right here with me Hermione," his eyes gleamed as he looked her over again, "Actually, you need to follow me upstairs."

_No. _She whipped her wand out quickly, ignoring how badly her hand was shaking and spoke quickly. "Stupefy!" She didn't spend the time to watch him fall; she just turned and ran as the sleeping man on the other couch woke up.

She ran as fast as her feet would carry her down the hall, a stitch in her side as she dashed for the common room. Halfway there she tripped in her panic and sprawled on the floor, books scattering. Her head hit the concrete floor but she barely felt the pain; instead all she could focus on was the feeling of defeat in her chest. Only a short moment with Ron and he was already coming after her again; it was completely insane.

The first tear dripped down her cheek closely followed by three more as she became unraveled, her mind traveling back to the one night she had been trying to forget. She refused to sob and alert anyone nearby that she was lying in a crumbled mess on the floor, but it was very difficult.

Hermione had no idea how long she laid there before someone cleared their throat, causing her head to snap up. She met the concerned eyes of Colin Creevey, who had grown into himself and was now a seventh year prefect. His wand was lit and he was looking around anxiously, as though expecting someone to jump out of the dark. "Merlin Hermione, are you alright?" He reached out a hand and helped her up, collecting her things with a flick of his wand.

"I'm fine Colin," she said quickly, whipping her eyes. "I tripped."

"I noticed," he said, but the tone of his voice told her that he didn't think that was the reason she was crying. Instead of handing her back her bag, he slung it over his shoulder and smiled at her. "I'll take you back to your common room."

"No, that's alright Colin," she said quickly. Obviously, the initial threat was gone since she had stupefied Ron, so he couldn't have followed her. Without him chasing her places, she was certain that she could get back to the Head's dorm by herself.

Besides, wandering alone with a man was still slightly unsettling, but, Colin was a sweetie and she didn't believe she would have anything to worry about. Still, it would give her charming roommate a reason to wonder why the escort was needed.

_Oh, so many variables. _

Colin shrugged. "It's alright, my patrol is done anyways." She didn't need him to add on "_And you are shaking like a leaf" _because she was clenching her fists to hide the fact.

Deciding it wouldn't do her any harm to walk with him to the room's entrance, but shoo him away before Malfoy showed up, she agreed and they began walking. They were halfway there when he spoke again. "May I ask you a personal question?"

_Colin never did have any idea what personal space is… he was always photographing Harry. _"Sure," she said, hoping it had nothing to do with finding her on the castle floor.

"Whatever happened between you and Weasley? You two seemed to be doing really well in your relationship."

She visibly flinched and it didn't go unnoticed by Colin, but he didn't comment. "Things changed between us, and I needed to move on from the relationship we were forming."

"Did something bad happen?"

Hermione quickly decided it was getting to close to the truth, "I'd rather not talk about it."

He nodded understandingly, deciding Harry or Ginny were probably talking to her about it anyways. "Okay, I didn't mean to pry or anything."

"You're fine Colin."

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Once at the portrait he handed her back her bag. "This is where the Head dorms are?"

The girl nodded. "Yes, and I would be grateful if you didn't tell anywhere where they are. It's supposed to be a secret after all."

Creevey held up his hands in surrender and nodded. "If you prefer."

She smiled tightly. "Thanks Colin."

"Anytime," he replied, before tipping his head in her direction and walking away. She waited until he rounded a corner before she said the password and hurried in. The moment she was inside she walked to the couch and collapsed on it, feeling a second wave of tears. Was she really so pathetic now that she always needed someone to pull her back onto her feet?

A few minutes later she felt the couch sink a bit as a heavier body sat beside hers, and she peered through her fingers to look at the blond sitting beside her, eyebrow raised, in his pajamas. Her cheeks colored as she realized this and quickly looked up.

"Have another bad encounter with Weasel?" he asked dryly.

"It's not important," she muttered, fixing her crooked shirt.

His eyes glazed over. "Of course it fucking matters Granger. Have you been completely ignoring the past few days? You're a mess and it's his fault, so yes, it fucking matters."

She flinched. "Not all the time."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes Granger, it _does _matter all the time."

They were quiet for a time, as she played with her fingers. Telling Malfoy about her newest near-encounter with Ron could be a very bad idea, but it could also help. After all, he had been there by her side when the boy decided to rape her that day, and he had saved her from being his partner in class. It couldn't hurt to tell him, could it?

As the blond prepared to stand up, she spoke, "Ron tried to attack me again."

He froze and turned his head, eyebrow up, "And what happened this time Granger?"

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head. "I-I stupefied him before he could get too close."

The surprise on her face was priceless as a smirk spread across his features. "Good for you then."

"W-what?" she asked, thoroughly confused.

Smirk still in place, he spoke, "At least you actually did something this time Granger."

Although his words may have been meant to be encouraging, they had the opposite effect on her. "Excuse me?"

He held up his hands. "I didn't mean anything by it Granger. I'm just saying that you didn't let the same thing happen again, which is good."

Try as she might, she couldn't exactly be mad at him. She had thought that he was saying she was weak for letting it happen, but he was just saying that it was good she tried to defend herself. Perhaps it would be better if she left out the part about falling down in the corridor and crying before Colin found her.

_Yeah, that's not important. Then he really may think something happened._

_Why do I care about what Malfoy thinks? _

"I guess it is," she finally said, nodding to him. "I just ran afterwards." _Why am I telling him this?_

He nodded. "Good for you then Granger."

Silence again. Did every silence need to seem uncomfortable?

At length, he stood. "Well, although your silence is charming, I think I'm actually going to try and sleep now." Inclining his head, he turned. "Night Granger."

"Malfoy," she said, sighing heavily. He walked into his room and shut the door, leaving her alone with her thoughts. In the aftermath, her encounter with Ron seemed even scarier. He was willing to physically hurt her with one of his best friend's right next to her, and he would be a complete arsehole to her in a room with people, so long as they were far enough away. She shuddered, glad she had used the spell and not taken anything from him.

She stood and grabbed her bag, trudging towards her bedroom. It felt far heavier then when she had come up, but decided it had to be because her adrenaline rush from running away from Ron was gone and the events of the day were weighing down on her. Collapsing onto her bed she felt her body try to immediately pass out, but she wasn't ready to yet. Grunting, she stood and headed for the joined bathroom, intent on brushing her teeth at least.

Stepping in, she stood in front of the mirror and looked at her reflection. It appeared as though she really had been crying, and guessed Malfoy simply chose to ignore that fact since she didn't bring it up. For that she was grateful.

Pushing her hair back as she brushed her teeth, she groaned. From her tumble into the floor, there was a small welt on the side of her face that had been hidden until she pushed her hair back. With a sigh, she realized her hair would have to remain down for the next several days unless she wanted questions. Having never been very gifted with healing spells, she was not about to attempt anything on herself, and there was absolutely no way she would be asking Malfoy.


	6. I Knew That Somebody Did

**Disclaimer:**Only the story idea is mine. The characters you recognize and Hogwarts and such are all J. K Rowling's.

**A/n**: I know it's a bit late, well a few days late, but I started a new job so its harder to update now. I will aim for once a week if not more, but at least once a week. Sorry guys, but life is full.

* * *

_Oh, waves of time, seem to wash away the scenes_

_Of our crimes. For you this never ends…_

_Can you stay strong? Can you go on?_

_Granger are you doing okay?_

_A rose that won't bloom, winter's kept you_

_Don't waste your whole life trying _

_To get back what was taken away._

The following morning Hermione woke up and stumbled into the bathroom, ready for a shower. Stripping down, she turned the water on as hot as she could handle and stepped in. Not a moment later she looked down and cringed.

The single scar he had left on her still hadn't turned white. She doubted he had been trying to leave such damage, since the mark was fairly large, but it had happened anyways. When he had… violated her she had been cut just below her rib cage and magically stopped the blood on her own before Draco spotted it. Now, after so many days later, it was still so very ugly on her fair skin.

It also made horrifying memories explode in her mind. The near-encounter with Ron had her on edge, and she found herself wondering what would happen if he got too close to her during breakfast, or in class? She could not just go around hexing him the entire day, nor could she hide either. She found it difficult to think about what would happen if he caught her off guard. Oh, this looked like it would be very difficult.

She finished washing quickly and stepped from the shower, drying her hair first to try and keep it semi-tame, seeing that she would need to have it down to do anything today. She did not want to think what would happen if Malfoy saw it, or ever Harry, who would at least question it.

A few minutes later she had her things and was heading out of the room for breakfast. Someone clearing their throat behind her stopped her cold, and she turned around slowly to find that it was only Malfoy, eyebrow raised.

"Oh, good morning," she said half-heartedly, putting on a strained smile.

"You look like someone attacked you with a stick," he commented, voice without emotion.

The girl frowned and looked in the nearby mirror, noticing the small scratches he was talking about. She had assumed they were from falling on the floor last night. "Yes, I… tripped." _Well, it's the truth._

He nodded once, walking past her. "I see."

* * *

Hermione had been receiving strange looks the entire morning. Looking around, multiple eyes were on her, and all her friends had avoided her at the table. Instead of asking what was going on, she put her head down and searched for sleep. She could worry about it during her first class, which was just around the corner.

Turning, she ran right into Neville. "I'm sorry," she said quickly, smiling up at him.

"It's okay Hermione," he said back kindly, although his eyes danced around nervously. Unsure what that meant, she moved to walk past him but his voice stopped her. "Is it true what everyone's saying?"

The girl frowned, and turned back to him. "What do you mean?"

He inclined his head in the general direction of the rest of the crowd. "Well its just… people keep saying that you hexed Ron last night."

She closed her eyes. Of course he would find a way to use that against her. It explained the strange looks she had been getting, and why Harry and Ginny had abandoned her for a different spot at the table. Ron saw them first every morning, so he had made sure to apparently get as many people on his side as possible.

Now what would she tell people? Telling them he assaulted her meant she had to reveal something that she was not ready to even confront in her mind, but without telling everyone something it would make her look bad. She was certain he did it to put her in this position, because the cocky bastard believed she would not say anything.

Damn, he seemed to be right, and least for the moment, so what would she tell Neville?

"I did," she replied, opening her eyes. "but he was out of line when I did so." Without waiting for him to reply, she turned quickly and hurried from the spot, off to her first hour.

Class passed by slowly. She could feel the strange gazes on her back, but the direct glare Ron had on her from the seat behind her was dominate and distracting. She was situated as close to her desk as possible, trying to ignore how close he was. Draco and his friends sat on the other side of the room in the same row. She wished she had chosen someplace else to sit.

"Now, everyone partner up," she heard the professor yell.

Hermione watched people around her move to sit with the people they wanted to be partners with, and rested her head against her hand, in no mood to search for a partner herself. Whoever was left could work with her, and she would probably do most of the work anyways.

Someone pulled up a seat next to her and she looked up to notice a red tuft of hair. Eyes widening, she looked into Ron's own eyes.

_Fuck. _

"Harry suggested we should talk," he said, eyes gleaming. "He wants us to sort out what happened last night."

"Of course he does," she muttered, scooting her chair away a bit so their legs would not touch. "But there's nothing to talk about," she continued quickly, pulling out a book and avoiding his eyes.

"Yes there is," he said gruffly, nudging her ankle with his foot. She bit her lip and began working, zoning the boy out.

"No, there isn't. We both know what really happened yesterday, and we also know that you are going to ruin my life by doing whatever you can, so shut up Ron and just work. Like I said, there is nothing to talk about."

His foot kicked her ankle, and she suppressed a hiss by gripping her quill, nearly breaking the flimsy writing utensil. Glaring up at him she noticed the same dark expression on this face that seemed to often be there when he looked at her. Adverting her eyes, she focused on her work and hoped he would get the hint that they had nothing else to say to one another.

He didn't. He reached below the desk instead and gripped her knee. "I said we are not done."

"We are done," she hissed in response, pulling her legs further away. "We have been done for a while now."

"You don't mean that though," he replied, reaching over to stroke her hip. "I know you are mad Hermione, but I didn't mean anything by it. I just miss having you beside me."

She shuddered. "Well I don't. Thanks to you Harry is mad at me, and Ginny is as well. Leave me alone Ron; you've caused enough issues."

He glared. "I can cause a lot more too if you continue being difficult. I'm trying to be nice to you."

"_Nice? _You don't even understand the concept of being nice! If you were nice you never would've done that to me."

His grip was back on her knee, forcing her closer. "Careful, I can try again. Maybe you'll like it more this time."

The color in her face disappeared.

* * *

Draco watched the pair from across the room. He was working with Blaise, but neither had gotten much done. To anyone else in the room it appeared that the pair was discussing the current rumor circulating about them, but the two Slytherin's knew better. Hermione's straight posture and Weasley's hard expression may seem to be built from the tension of that conversation, but they knew it was because of the emotions jumping between the two. Another desk masked what was happening below the tabletop, but Granger kept squirming further away, causing the two to exchange looks.

"Think he's going to try to kill her again," Zabini asked, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

The blond shrugged. "Not in class, but Granger's going to hurt herself if she moves any further on that chair; she's practically falling off of it."

Blaise nodded his agreement. "She does seem rather uncomfortable; the color is gone from her face too. Does she often look like that when he is around?"

Draco nodded. "From what I have seen; she looked about the same when she finally got back to the bloody dorm yesterday."

"Ah yes, when did she even return?"

"Rather late; I think someone besides Weasley walked her back."

Blaise frowned. "How do you know that?"

"I was walking past the door and I heard voices, but it didn't sound like the Weasel with her."

"Potter?"

"Please Zabini, I would know Pothead anywhere."

The Italian decided that was probably true, and raised his eyebrow as she scooted over still, paper apparently forgotten. He wondered who else was watching this besides them… Potter hopefully. "How did she return last night? Bloody and red?"

"No," Draco replied, shaking his head a bit, "but she did have a mark on her head, and small scrapes like she ran into a branch."

"The castle floor can do that."

"Yes, but why would she have been on the floor at all?" They exchanged a glance.

"Perhaps Weasley did get a hold of her," Blaise mused, glancing down at the paper. He wrote another fact down and then returned his focus to the real situation.

"No; if Granger had been touched again she would've been in a far worse mental state then she was when she walked in." He remembered her terrified face, but she wasn't screaming and begging him not to hurt her like she had once done, so he would keep assuming nothing too serious had happened until proven wrong. "She was very scared though."

"I would be scared too if I was her; she returned to a common room with him. I wouldn't have even done that."

Draco glanced over at his friend. "Are you a coward? You could easily take Weasel."

"Yes _I _could, but Granger is not very built. She doesn't have the body strength, and I seriously doubt the girl knows any muggle self defense if that happened at all."

He nodded in agreement. "I suppose you are right." Silence descended over the two as Draco took the paper and scribbled something on it as well; eyes continuously glancing up at Granger to make sure everything was alright.

_I shouldn't be this concerned, but then again, Potter shouldn't be acting this stupid so everything is backwards. _

He watched the ginger scoot closer and raised an eyebrow. "I think its about time he help, don't you?"

Blaise looked over and grinned. "But of course."

The blond pulled out his wand and quietly muttered a spell, watching with delight as the boys chair disappeared and he fell, smacking his head on the desk behind them and surprising his partner, who looked over at him through half lidded eyes.

_Serves Weasley right_, he thought as Granger's gaze locked eyes with him for a single moment, before snapping around as people in the class noticed and the professor came over to see what the problem was. He quickly re-pocketed his wand and continued attempting to work on the assignment with Blaise, ignoring whatever the teacher was now saying.

Had he seen relief on her face? Perhaps they would be discussing that later, back in the dorm.

"Now who did this, hmm? I will not tolerate students messing around in my classroom!"

Draco rolled his eyes and exchanged looks with Zabini. The new teacher was certainly a drag.

* * *

When the class finally ended, she was the first one out. Ron had kept his distance after the fall, but she was in no mood to deal with his attitude now that they were in the hallways. Besides, Harry still seemed torn between his two friends, and had not spoken to her when she mentioned seeing him in the following class.

A hand locked around her forearm, and she turned to see Ron Weasley gripping her arm, an unreadable expression on his face. She straightened her back, glaring up at him the best she could.

Instead of speaking, he shoved a note into her hand and stomped off. Blinking, she could not believe her luck. She had been expecting crude words and threats, yet all he had done was hand her a piece of paper.

Hesitantly, she opened the paper to read what was written, and quickly wished she hadn't.


	7. Though the Marks on Your Dress

**Disclaimer:**Only the story idea is mine. The characters you recognize and Hogwarts and such are all J. K Rowling's. Thanks to my beta **ashash52009**!

**Though the Marks on Your Dress**

The blond was wandering down the hall, wondering what had happened to his brunette roommate. She had not been at dinner, but then, neither had the redhead. He was beginning to wonder why that was, and what exactly Weasley had done now. He had to of done something, right, or else Granger may have actually paid attention in class. She had been completely out of it in Transfiguration.

"_Miss Granger? Miss Granger!" The teacher wrapped her wand against the bookworm's desk, even though Hermione already had the entire classroom's attention. Hermione Granger, not listening in class? That was new!_

_She looked up. "Erm- yes, professor?"_

_The woman glared. McGonagall's replacement was far more annoying then the old Gryffindor head-of-house had been. "Could you kindly tell me what I just asked?"_

"_Um... no mam." _

"_That's what I thought."_

Yes, something had to be bothering Granger. She was not herself, and he intended to figure out what Weasley had said to her in their first hour to her. Knocking Weasley into the floor had stopped his ever-annoying attention towards the girl, but Malfoy was certain the action had only flared up his famous temper. _I hope we didn't send off Granger to deal with an angrier Weasel. Then I'll really have a mess of a roommate._

Rounding the corner, he frowned as a head of ginger hair came into his vision. Ron Weasley was standing angrily outside of his dorm room, tapping his foot impatiently- but silently. The blond rolled his eyes. So, neither had been at dinner because Weasley had her hiding in their dorm- or perhaps it was the opposite situation; Granger simply refused to open the door and allow him inside.

"Weasley," he drawled, stopping outside of the dorm room as well, "whatever you are doing here isn't welcome, so kindly leave." He crossed his arms, waiting for the ginger to step away, but he didn't.

"Fuck off Malfoy," he replied dryly, "I'm only waiting to talk to Hermione-"

"I doubt you know how to _talk _to her anymore," he cut in, eyebrows drawing together. "From what I remember, you either rape her or scream at her, but you don't seem to do an awful lot of talking anymore, do you?" He had leaned in a bit closer, getting in the Gryffindor's face.

Ron turned his head in disgust, taking a step back. "We talked in class today Malfoy, in case you missed it," he hissed in return, "We were partners, since you kindly stayed out of the way this time."

He chuckled. "Ah yes, how could I forget? You fell, right?"

The boy's cheeks turned red. "And I'm pretty fucking certain that's your fault there Malfoy!"

Draco clicked his tongue, "No need to be so testy Weasley; I was just stating a fact. Besides, you have no proof that it was even my fault."

"I know it was though," Weasley said accusingly.

"Of course you do," the blond drawled, "but you still lack the evidence you need. Perhaps you should watch your back more, aye Weasel? You never know what may sneak up behind you."

Ron narrowed his eyes. "Is that a threat ferret?"

"Only if you make it into one," he replied, keeping his cool. The blond placed his hands in his pockets, waiting to see what the redhead would try next. The argument was getting them nowhere, but he couldn't help but press Weasley's buttons a bit.

"I'll-" He cut off as the portrait opened and the head of Hermione Granger peered out, clad in some sort of ivory cloak.

"Stop arguing," she scolded, although it came off with less vindication then one would normally expect. "Come in Malfoy." She continued, avoiding Ron's eyes. Although it was nice that someone was willing to get under Ron's skin like that instead of being mad at her for hexing him. She didn't want the redhead outside the door anymore. He had screamed enough profanities at her to make the people in nearby photos leave.

"Granger-"

"Ordering him around now," Ron cut in, seething. Both teens looked up, and Malfoy quickly placed himself between the two Gryffindor's, but no one paid the action much mind. "Or are you just worried about the bastard? Come on Hermione- you're supposed to hate him."

"He didn't hurt me," she replied, leveling her head as her hand reached out to grab the back of Malfoy's school robes, trying to pull him into the room. From Ron's standpoint, he couldn't see this, just the slight turn of Draco's head, "But you have."

"It was never meant to hurt you," the oblivious redhead said, and both teens facing him raised their eyebrows nearly into their hairlines, "I figured you would end up liking it once the pain began to subside."

"Subside?" she asked, pushing past Malfoy to stand in front of her ex. Draco supposed the sudden courage must come from the knowledge that she was not alone, but he couldn't be sure, she is a Gryffindor after all. Her hands were fisted tight, and he wondered why the Weasel never learned to hold his tongue; he just hoped Granger would hit the idiot in front of them and stop feeling so sorry for herself. It had only been a few days, but the terrified looks in her eyes were enough to cause him worry for her health.

"Yes," Ron said, as though it were obvious.

"When did you think it would start getting better for me!" she screamed, shoving him. Ron's hands came out and locked around her upper arms, but Draco had the boy shoved back from her again almost instantly. Neither teen spoke a word to the blond.

"Well usually-"

"I don't care what you think is usual! Nothing about that situation was usual; in fact, it should've never happened!" She moved to shove him again, but Malfoy held her back as the redhead walked forwards instead, fists balled up. The moment she noticed, he felt her stiffen against him. Despite her sudden spurt of confidence, the sight of her angry ex sent her running. Draco observed this, but said nothing.

"Watch it," Ron growled, "you've been asking for it for months."

"What kind of delusional world do you live in," she asked, shaking her head as she moved from Malfoy's grasp, "I've never once hinted anywhere near wanting something like that! You really are crazy," she continued, taking a step back. "I wish I had known just how much before we got together."

"What does that mean?" he snarled, reaching out to grab her, but both opposing teens stopped him. Draco reached his arm first and shoved, and half a second later Hermione's hand connected with his cheek as he fell back. The two watched him hit the floor, and both waited silently for the uproar that was sure to follow.

The redhead stood, brushing himself off, eyes locked on the brunette the entire time, staring her down and daring her to try something else. She remained by the blond's side, but never once looked away from his eyes; it felt good to stand up to him for hurting her.

Ron's eyes danced between the two people in front of him, before he turned and stormed away- not before he tried to shove her again, however. As the two watched him go, Draco couldn't resist the urge to pull his wand out and throw a Bat Boogey Hex towards the ginger. Hermione did not wait to see what happened after that, just grabbed the Slytherin's hand and pulled him into the still open dorm room, slamming the portrait closed behind her.

She immediately dropped his hand and hugged herself, walking to the couch. The girl sat down and pulled her knees to her chest, resting her arms around them. He half expected her to bury her face into them and cry, but she didn't. He dropped his schoolbag off right there at the door and went to sit beside her.

"What gives Granger?" She glanced over at him, blond fringe littering his eyes. He looked rather annoyed, but then, he only ever seemed annoyed- except outside earlier, when he had been acting nothing but strange. _He was still annoyed… but there was something else there that I just can't place…_

"Nothing," she replied, not meeting his eyes.

He chuckled darkly, and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up. She was surprised by his forwardness, but said nothing. "That's a lie. Somehow, you ended up in this situation with the Weasel waiting outside our dorm for you, so how did that happen?"

She pulled away from him, uninterested in telling him what had happened now. He was a prick, and she didn't need to go around telling a Slytherin her fears; he had been nice before, but he had just as much of a temper as Ron if you asked her. Besides, what would he say now? Malfoy was charming when he chose to be, but she was certain he would be rather unhappy with the words on the note. He had bothered to save her, after all, so he couldn't completely hate her. Therefore, he probably wouldn't like it, and she didn't want to see anymore angry reactions from anyone.

He probed her with a finger, and the action caused her head to whip back around. He had not been flinching lately when touching her, and that was very unusual for Malfoy standards. _But then again, he cradled you against his body the night Ron first hurt you. _She shuddered, and Malfoy pulled his hand back.

Her eyes shyly moved up to look into his grey ones, and the concern she saw there was terrifying. When Malfoy cares more then anyone seems to there has to be a problem, right? Granted, no one else knew what happened, but she had still never expected the whirlwind of emotions to appear in his eyes. She was very well aware that he had been helping her here and there with the ginger, but she didn't understand why he kept helping. He could always be his usual, cowardly self and step back from a complicated situation, but he had not.

"Ron gave me a message," she stated while looking down at her knees again. It felt silly to be telling Malfoy about another incident, but she had found him to be the only one to indulge these things on. Harry and Ginny would think she was just lying.

The blond inclined an eyebrow. "What kind of message Granger?" he asked, folding his arms now.

She unwrapped her arms from her legs and moved to sit correctly on the sofa, legs over the edge and fingers fiddling with each other. He watched the odd movement but said nothing, deciding he would rather wait and see what she would say.

After a few seconds, she spoke again. "He threatened me."

The blond scoffed, "Well I assumed that much. Something a little less vague is what I was looking for Granger."

Her eyes dropped. She wasn't sure details were something she wanted to go into, but now she had started the conversation, so she probably needed to finish it. He was waiting patiently beside her, not daring to interrupt her thoughts.

Instead of replying, she stood and left the room to find her bag. Pulling out a slip of paper, she turned and was surprised to see that he had followed and now was waiting in the doorway. She hadn't expected him to even move, and perhaps lose interest and leave, but following her was something else. Maybe he did care about what was happening to her more then she liked to admit. Bottling up some courage, she marched over and handed him the paper, holding his gaze. Long fingers reached over and took the parchment from her, watching her closely.

He finally broke the staring contest to inspect the paper in his hand. It was only folded once, and rather short. Obviously, this was a very to-the-point type of threat, he glanced back at Granger as he unfolded the letter, but dropped it entirely as something else caught his attention.

"Where the fuck did that come from?" he asked sharply, reaching over to touch the new mark on her face, revealed now that her hair had shifted. It took several seconds for her to realize what he was looking at, but the moment that she did she jumped away from his touch.

"Nothing... nowhere," she replied, turning away to rub the sensitive area. Why couldn't he just read the damn letter and get it out of the way, instead of noticing things like that. She moved away from him but he caught her arm.

"That's not nothing Granger," he growled from behind her, the letter completely forgotten in his mind. "Where did that mark come from? When did you last have a violent encounter with Weasley, hmm?"

Her body tightened. Now it sounded like he really cared, and that was disorienting. "It doesn't matter."

"You need to get that out of your head," he said, forcing her to turn around. She could see the anger in his eyes, "The longer you keep believing that it doesn't matter the more likely you are to take the abuse. The faster you learn to accept what he has done, and that you cannot allow him to do things like that to you again, the better your life will be." His jaw tightened. "You need to tell someone-"

"No," she said quickly, shaking her head. It was humiliating enough to know Malfoy had seen what happened to her. "No, I refuse to tell anyone."

He scoffed. "Then you better expect lots of marks like that," he replied, tapping the spot on her face, "because if you don't learn how to accept this, and tell someone so he's out of your life, then there will be lots more of those- unless you decide to never be alone again, which sounds a bit difficult to do." He leaned a bit closer. "I just hope that big brain of yours starts working soon Granger."

She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but he had apparently had enough of this. Snatching the note off the ground, he made his way out of the room. She watched him go, feeling the pain explode in her chest. The moment he was out, she slammed the door shut and slid down the wood.

He had a point; they needed to tell someone, but not just for her sake; for everyone's. Ron could never be given the chance to do something like that again, and it would be up to her about whether or not he got the chance. Malfoy could tell whoever he wanted, but the Ministry would need a confession or evidence or something to know the truth, and that came from her.

_Looks like I have a lot to get over then, _she thought, before burying her head into her knees and feeling the tears escape. The problem was, she didn't want to do anything about it yet.

**A/n: **No note this chapter, but it plays a big part in the next one! I planned to put it here originally, but it didn't fit in quite right. Sorry! I'll have the next chapter up ASAP. Oh, and this story only has like seven chapters left- maybe.


	8. Have Been Neatly Repressed

**Disclaimer:**Only the story idea is mine. The characters you recognize and Hogwarts and such are all J. K Rowling's. Thanks to my beta **ashash52009**! **not yet edited!

**Have Been Neatly Repressed**

* * *

It had been two weeks since Malfoy had drilled the point into her head that this was dangerous, and someone needed to be told. Hermione had replayed the scenes from the conversation over and over in her head again, but had yet to be able to muster up the courage to go forwards with it. Sure, she had been dealing with the terrors in her own mind, but that didn't help with the real world. In the real world, her ex was still a horrifying figure within her life, and she knew he needed to be removed before something else happened.

The two weeks had passed slowly. Sitting in class now, she glanced one row forwards, on the opposite side of the room, to the two Slytherin's who seemed to be aiding her. Malfoy had told her just last week about informing Blaise, and it had not gone over well. To say she was mad would be an understatement; she was furious. It had taken a lot of time and talking between the two for Malfoy to convince the Gryffindor that Blaise was trustworthy, and would not ever do something like Ron had. Reflecting back, she realized her fears of that were stupid, considering he was now helping Malfoy be a bother to the ginger. She had only ever really spoken to Blaise twice since then, but he seemed nice enough.

Her favorite part about him was that he was quiet; he didn't push for answers, and he rarely asked her questions. That all seemed to be left to Malfoy, who would continuously drop comments about telling someone in their common room whenever they passed each other. The habit was tedious and annoying, but she never responded. She couldn't, because she didn't know who to tell or how to even go about that yet. It was something she still had a bit of work to accomplish; but the question was how much work.

Blaise and Malfoy had been quite helpful in the past weeks. Ron kept his distance, if only because every time she approached he received a hex from nowhere. Harry had asked her just the other day if she was the one doing it, but the girl had denied anything and he seemingly believed her. Now, she could often see the annoyance in her ex's face at the dinner table, and she had opted to sit closer to Ginny and Lavender instead of bothering with the evil glare. At least the two Slytherin's interference had stalled any further attacks from him.

Ron's note however was an entirely different story in itself. It was currently hidden someplace in her bag, for she found herself often reading the terrible words despite how they made her feel. She was drawn to them, if only because a part of her wanted to believe his opinion was true, but Malfoy had made it very clear four days ago that it was complete bullshit for her to believe such a thing.

_Hermione sat in her room, door ajar. She had come up here tonight instead of to dinner, although no ginger arsehole was keeping her there. She had simply come up to look at his words, now stained with her tears, to see what she thought of it again; did she believe what he had said, or was she beyond that yet?_

_Unfolding the letter again, she began to read:_

_Hermione~_

_How dare you hide behind that ferret? Don't you see that he is going to only use you for one thing? If you come back to me, I promise I'll be nice this time. I didn't mean to be so terribly awful to you, but I slipped. Please forgive me._

_However, you cannot simply keep hiding behind him. Face me like the fucking woman I know you are and stop cowering. Since when do you cower? If you don't want me then you can fucking deal with me yourself. I know you hide behind Malfoy and its time to stop. Truly Mione, that is a bit disappointing. I thought you would be more fun._

_The only reason someone like you would ever hide behind someone like him is if he is getting something out of it- but you were never a whore, so you would never be enough of a bitch to cheat on me. Keep in mind, if you do try to end us on bad terms, I will come after you._

_~Ron_

_Malfoy had heard her crying and came to investigate. Sitting beside her, he took back the letter she had removed from his room some days ago and tossed it to the side. Then he had forced her to look up at him._

"_Would you stop worrying over some fucking words? He's not going to get close to you Granger, so long as you don't give him the opportunity," Malfoy had said, his tone gentle. Instead of replying, she had leaned into her pillows and cried._

_But he was having none of that. Pulling on her arm, he drug her back to him and let her ruin the crisp material of his white shirt with her tears. She didn't understand why he let this happening, considering his posh manner, but nonetheless he held her loosely against him and let her cry. It was surprisingly comforting. _

_When her tears subsided, she pulled back and gave him a watery smile. "Thanks," she said, turning her head away to wipe off the last stray tears. There was a large wet spot on his shirt now, but the blond had yet to make any snide comments about it. _

_There was a moment's pause before he spoke again, "Stop believing everything he has to say to you. It's not worth getting worked up over," the blond drawled, and she felt the bed shift as he got off. She looked up, watching him rub his face as he thought. But instead of talking, he turned and headed for the door._

_Although she didn't say anything, he paused in the doorframe and glanced back. "For the record Granger, I don't need anything to help you." He left before she could reply, and she had only her thoughts to keep her company in the empty room._

It had been a strange point in time, for Malfoy's behavior had been very different from what she was accustomed to. But, she didn't complain. His words did help- a small bit anyways. Thinking back, she wasn't quite sure what any of it meant.

The professor was saying something a bit louder now, and Hermione tried to return her focus to the subject at hand.

* * *

That night in the common room Malfoy sat beside her on the couch. "Weasel seems to be less interested in you," he drawled, opening some form of work.

Hermione nodded. "I guess; he hasn't spoken to me in several days, but he did shove me in the hall earlier."

Draco clicked his tongue. "Sounds like him," he grumbled, not looking up from his work. She thought the reaction was a bit odd, but didn't think into it too much. "But if that is all he has done, then he has pulled back quite a bit."

"He has," she replied absentmindedly, her mind elsewhere.

"Which is probably because you have Blaise and me to help now," he continued, still not looking up.

She glanced over at him. The blond tried to bring up this topic as often as he could. "Yes," she said quietly.

"But that wouldn't be needed if someone else knew who could simply remove the problem entirely."

She groaned. "Malfoy, this again?"

Finally, the blond looked up, sneering. "Yes, this again Granger. It's absurd that you have let this go on for so long, but enough is enough. You really do need to get around to telling someone about this. It's only a matter of time before he tries something again."

The brunette looked up sharply. "What does that mean?"

He chuckled, still looking at her. "You must not see it, but both Blaise and I have. He's watching you Granger, looking for the opportune moment to mess with you again. You don't notice, because you try not to watch him, but I can see it. The longer you wait, the more time you are giving him to attempt something."

Her face paled a bit. "You don't know that Malfoy; you don't know what goes on in his head."

"Neither do you Granger," he replied evenly. She continued to hold his gaze, but her confidence that Ron wasn't planning something new started to waver. Looking away, she decided her hands were far more interesting.

"Don't worry Malfoy," she replied in possibly the steadiest tone of voice he had heard from her in a while, "I'll tell someone else soon; nothing else is going to happen."

He wasn't so sure he believed her; her tone maybe strong but there was nothing about her that screamed confident. He chose not to reply to her, and settled back into the couch, content just sitting there. They remained like that for another hour before he finally got up to go to his room.

* * *

The following morning Ron made sure to get a seat with Harry right behind Hermione, but it seemed to make his raven-haired friend uncomfortable. They had been avoiding her recently (or at least it seemed) and Harry was still unaware of what had caused such a rift between the once popular couple.

Ron intended to keep him in the dark like that. If Harry learned that he had forced her, then it was possible his best friend would go to her side, despite the redheads reasoning. He had been waiting a long time, after all.

The ginger was quite aware of the two Slytherin's watching him from a few rows back. Transfiguration was the first class of the day, and they were already watching him like hawks again. It was extremely aggravating to know she had those two bastards watching him, because it made it exceptionally hard to do anything, much less get close to her. She may as well have been sitting on one of their laps, considering how well the two were watching out for her. He had attempted to yank her hair a week back to get her attention, and had ended up in the hospital wing with boils covering his face because of it. It would be difficult to get at her again, that much was certain.

He just didn't understand why they were doing it. Malfoy may have seen what he had done- because Ron loved her of course, and wanted her to know it, so that's why he had gone after her- and that may have given him a bit of motive to _protect _her since it didn't go over so well for her, but Zabini? What the fuck made Zabini want to join in, except being Malfoy's closest friend. That part made Ron curious, but not curious enough to ask any of the three. They were on opposing sides, and he still wanted Hermione to be his.

_And she'll be mine. I just have to make her remember why she fucking loves me._

Beneath his desk he fingered the wood of his wand. She was being a difficult bitch to get a hold of, but no matter. He would just fuck her like last time, without some blond prick to get in the way. He knew it hurt a girl the first time- and he was truly hoping it was her first time that day- but the next time there would be no chance that she was a virgin, so she had no reason to beg him to get away. She could learn to love it, if she would just try to enjoy herself.

He wanted her to remember him more then she would remember anyone else in her lifetime, but he wanted her to be his as well. Until he could have her, he would not stop trying to get her. She needed to pay for being such a bitch the last time, and for calling him a rapist when he had done nothing of the sort, but most of all she needed to remember that he was the only bloke who could ever want her.

A coy smile slid across his face as a thought entered his mind. Oh yes, now he had a plan…

* * *

**A/n: **Up next, we're going to see quite a bit of Harry :) Wanna leave a little feedback?


	9. I Knew That Something was Wrong

**Disclaimer: **Only the story idea is mine. The characters you recognize and Hogwarts and such are all J. K Rowling's. Thanks to my beta**ashash52009**!

**I Knew That Something Was Wrong**

* * *

It was later that same day, just after dinner, when Hermione heard the Head's portrait door open, and looked up from her position on the couch expecting to see Draco. She did, but the slender figure of his Italian housemate walked into the space as well. Surprised by the sudden appearance of Blaise, she stopped working on she had been completely engulfed in moments ago and pulled her legs off the couch, staring at the two intently. They did not stop in the entranceway but came to sit beside her in the common room; Draco on the couch and Blaise on the chair placed on the other side of the room.

It was no secret to the blond that Hermione had yet to feel entirely comfortable in Blaise's presence- which he liked to assume had to do with him being male and not because he was Slytherin- but had never questioned her about it. That being said, they had agreed that Blaise would stay a bit of a distance away from her in this conversation, at least until the Gryffindor moved on from her fear and learned to trust the Italian.

They exchanged a few pleasant if not slightly dull hello's, all of which excluded Blaise, until Malfoy decided it was apparently time to cut to the chase. "Weasley was acting odd today, don't you think Granger," he began, raising a delicate eyebrow. Blaise sat forwards in his chair, elbows on his knees, waiting to see what she had to say.

The girl glanced between the two boys. Obviously, this was the entire reason why Blaise had come up today, but what difference did he make? Usually Draco could push her far enough to the point where her mind would swim and she was uncertain what to think next. So why was Zabini so important just now?

Thinking back, the ginger had seemed a bit cocky the entire day, and kept glancing her way. It had been unsettling, but that was nothing out of the ordinary. After all, she had a right to feel unsafe around him after everything that had happened. "He was no stranger than any other day."

Blaise stifled a scoff but noted that his blond housemate couldn't hold back an eye roll. "You need to use those eyes of yours a bit more Granger," the blond said, "He's been looking at you like prey since breakfast. You need to be cautious, because we think he is planning something again."

"What more could he possibly do to me," she asked, eyes narrowing. "If he repeats the act then it's a bigger sentence, and even Ron wouldn't want that. He maybe playing a dangerous game, but I think he is smarter than that."

"You give the bastard a lot of credit then," Blaise muttered.

"What was that Zabini?" she asked icily, glaring at him now. The very idea of Ron even getting close to her made her sick to her stomach, but she wouldn't let them know that. They were being helpful enough, but they didn't need her emotional baggage bothering them. If Ron came around again, she wasn't quite sure how she would react.

Besides, there was nothing saying that he really wouldn't try to attack her in such a way again.

"Calm down Granger," Draco drawled, holding up his hands. "You have to stop considering the Weasel you used to know as still existing. You may have it implanted in your mind to defend him because you have known the idiot for years, but you have to remember what he did. The fool doesn't need your defense, because that is going to do nothing to save his arse. I'm not Potter- and thank Merlin for that- so there's no reason to snap at us for having an opinion of your _rapist._"

She clamped her mouth shut, listening to his words. The blond was right; she didn't owe Ron anything and in this small room of people she had no reason to defend him. Merlin, he was willing to betray her in the worst possible way! She needed to stop defending him, she really did, and unfortunately Malfoy was a lot better at hating Ron then she was. They had been friends since first year after all. _Old habits die hard I guess, even when things change so much. _

Hermione didn't say anything out loud though, and only nodded her head. Things were still in the process of developing, changing into where her life would take her once all of this was said and done, and she just wasn't keeping up. When the two men were met with only silence, Draco continued speaking. "If the Weasel is after you again Granger, then you need to go tell someone as soon as you can- preferably today if you want to ensure nothing happens. Blaise and I-"

"No," she interrupted, rubbing her head, "I can't tell anyone yet."

"Are you waiting for him to come around then," Draco asked, frowning. _Why is she always so bloody stubborn? _

She shook her head. No, that wasn't it at all. The matter of alerting someone of Ron's misdeed had been hanging over her for a while now, but she owed an explanation to someone else first, someone who was very dear to her. "I can't yet Malfoy," she said after some time, resting her head in her hands. "I have someone else I need to tell first."

The blond turned and glanced at Blaise, who shrugged. "Who? The Weaselette?"

Hermione glanced up at Draco, who was still frowning. He didn't know why or how it would help telling the girl, but she ruined his train of thought as she spoke. "No you git, I have to tell Harry."

The blond groaned. _Just what I need- scarhead making an entrance._

* * *

Hermione was the first to retire that night, leaving Blaise and Malfoy in the living room. The moment she was gone Draco leaned forward and looked at his best mate. "She is batty."

The Italian nodded. "I wonder why she insists on telling Potter when she should be focusing on Weasley's younger sister."

Draco scoffed, standing to find himself something to eat in the Head's kitchen. "I wouldn't tell that girl; she has a temper."

"Maybe she does, but it's her brother. Besides, it's not like Potter will take it much better either. Fuck, he probably won't believe her."

The blond nodded, returning just then with nothing but an apple. "That's what I'm thinking."

* * *

The following morning Hermione made sure to stand right outside of their first class, so she could grab a hold of Harry when Ron was not within earshot. The table would have been entirely inappropriate simply because the redhead would know something was up if she drug Harry away from a meal, but here in the hall she knew she could make up a decent excuse being Head girl.

Glancing around, she noted that Harry and Ron had just rounded a corner, and braced herself to deal with the ginger. He was already giving her strange looks from down the hall, and she realized Malfoy must have been right about his newest plan; something was coming, and that limited her time.

"Harry," she said when the two finally reached her. Nothing could make her look at Ron, but she knew he was watching her with complete intensity the moment she said Harry's name. "McGonagall asked me to bring you up to her office. She has something to discuss with you." She knew she sounded like the goody-two-shoes bookworm she was known to be, but that couldn't be helped. She needed to get Harry away.

He nodded. "Sure thing Hermione," he said, moving so that the two could fall into step beside one another. Unfortunately, Ron decided this included him as well. Harry said nothing about the third member of their party, but she couldn't allow Ron to come with if the entire conversation was about him.

"Ronald go to class," she deadpanned, not even sparing the ginger a glance. She couldn't, not without chancing losing her courage and sending Harry back to class. If she did that she doubted she could ever tell him, and that would overcomplicate things again. "McGonagall strictly asked for Harry and you're going to get me in trouble by coming with."

The ginger was glaring at her past Harry by now, who watched the entire exchange but didn't understand the large amount of tension. Yes, the two were separated, but Ron was practically seething anger even before she had started telling him he couldn't follow. "What gives Hermione, you've _never_ said no before."

The double meaning was not lost to Hermione, but she fisted her hands and fought down the raging emotions inside. She would not let him get to her, not now. "I'm trying to keep my place as Head Girl, and I won't have you ruining that," she said in a steady voice; it seemed to do nothing to faze Ron, but he gave her a short, twisted smile before masking his face as Harry glanced between the pair.

"Fine then Hermione, I'll see you soon," he said, turning and starting away. The fact that Ron Weasley of all people dropped an argument so quickly wasn't normal, and both teens paused to stare after the retreating Gryffindor, who never once looked back. The action did nothing to settle Hermione; if anything, her stomach dropped. That smile was terrible, and made her mind spin. What did he mean by 'seeing her soon'?

Harry turned back first, seeming to lose interest in their redheaded friend. He continued to walk in the direction of McGonagall's office, and Hermione hurried to keep up. "That was strange," he said as they continued. "You know, Ron really hasn't been himself lately. He's always so angry Hermione, but I can't figure out why." He stopped walking. "He never told me exactly how you two broke up either," he continued, implying that he would enjoy hearing the reasoning behind everything.

_Oh Harry, you hit the nail on the head. _She leaned against the wall behind her and sighed. "We didn't break up on good terms, really."

"I gathered that," the raven-haired boy replied, crossing his arms.

She nodded, gulping. This was really going to happen, and she really was about to tell someone her secret. Feeling the floor come out from under her, she slid down the wall until her bottom hit the stone. Harry looked puzzled but sat cross-legged in front of her, hands folded, waiting.

_He knows something is up… he wants me to talk. Oh god, I can't do this!_

But then, she didn't think her legs would carry her far either. Taking a deep breath, she looked up into her best friends eyes. "There's something I need to tell you, and you're not going to like it."

Harry's brows furrowed together, but he said nothing as she began to tell her story.

* * *

It did not go unnoticed by either Slytherin that Granger was absent through their entire first class. At first, Malfoy thought maybe Weasley had finally done something to her, but decided that probably wasn't the case once Zabini pointed out that Potter was missing too. He came to the conclusion that she must've finally mustered up the courage to tell Potter about his demented friend, and could only imagine the waterworks Potter was dealing with. _I'm certainly glad not to be him. _

The class moved slowly, but Draco was paying their professor very little attention. He was focused on the ginger-haired student in front of him, who seemed to become more and more aggravated as the class droned on. The blond wondered if that was because of the absence of Potter, or because Potter was likely with Granger. The moment the bell rang the huffy Weasel was out the door, and Malfoy thought he couldn't have made more of a scene. Exchanging a glance with Blaise, he figured they both had the same idea in mind; he was probably pissed at Granger for one reason or another. Standing, they made their way out of class as well.

* * *

"You're lying," Harry said blatantly when she finished telling her story. He was already on his feet, arms crossed. "Ron would never do that."

She shook her head. "You don't know what he's capable of," she replied, a bit desperately. She needed him to believe her, but from the moment she came up with this plan she had doubt in her mind that he would believe her. Now faced with the reality of that, she was terrified that he would storm off. Her hands were searching blindly through her bag as she continued. "Here, I have-"

"I'm not interested in what you have," Harry said tiredly. He had no idea what to think, but Hermione's story made Ron seem completely out of character, and he wanted to believe that maybe she had made the whole thing up, but that just wasn't Hermione. Then again, raping wasn't supposed to be Ron, but that's what the story made him out to be; a rapist. If he believed her, he was betraying Ron, but if Ron had really done something like that, then the ginger betrayed him. His head hurt and he just didn't want to think about the situation anymore. "I need to think; this isn't something I'm going to take lightly," he continued, throwing some snap into his voice, even if he wasn't sure if he was angry.

"I have this," she said, pulling out Ron's letter to her, but Harry shoved it away from him.

"I'm not reading anything Hermione," he spat, turning away. He needed to go talk to Ron immediately.

"Harry-"

"Not now Hermione," he said, backing away. "Not right fucking now." He turned and rushed away, not sure what else to do. Did she want him to pity her? He didn't know if he should pity her!

Watching Harry rush off, she felt her heart drop. He didn't believe her. Whispering a spell, the note shot off after him and tucked itself into an outer pocket, so that he would find it later. He rounded a corner a moment later, leaving her alone.

She slumped back against the wall. He didn't believe her, and if he ran off to go and talk to Ron, that wouldn't do any good. Those two were always a bit closer with each other then her, and that put her at a disadvantage. Tears wanted to fall out of her eyes in frustration. Would anything ever go her way?

Standing, she decided she would not be studying in her free period. Instead, she chose to head back to the Head's dorm and take a bath. After all, no one would be looking for her, and she really just needed to think.

* * *

**A/n: **Sorry for not responding to reviews last chapter! I did this time though as quickly as possible. Now, want to let me know what you thought of this chapter?


	10. And I Should've Spoke Out

**Disclaimer: **Only the story idea is mine. The characters you recognize and Hogwarts and such are all J. K Rowling's. Thanks to my beta**ashash52009**!

**And I Should've Spoke Out**

* * *

Draco sat in his next class beside Pansy, tapping away at the desk with his quill. Whatever the professor was droning on about was lost to him as he thought about how things had progressed. Potter seemed quite annoyed, and was brooding in a desk at the back, ignoring everyone. The only strange thing about that was the absence of his red-haired friend, which but the blond on edge.

Where had Weasley gone?

* * *

Hermione was heading up the stairs to her dorm room when the bell for their next class chimed. Thankful for once that none of her friends shared the same free period as her, she took her time heading to the room, knowing full well that she had a dilemma with Harry to fix.

Oh, why couldn't he have just read the note? If he had seen Ron's nasty words with his own eyes, there would be far less for him to doubt. But not, Harry could be as stubborn as Hermione herself, and had flatly refused to listen to her. It was disappointing, considering that she needed him desperately to listen so that she felt less guilt later, when she revealed it to _everyone_.

But for now, she would settle with a bath, which would hopefully relieve some of her stress and remove some of the tension in her body.

* * *

Ron watched her from his spot in the corner, barely peering out. He had run into Harry barely five minutes ago, having been curious just what she had told him. Needless to say, he was not happy with what he heard.

"_Hey Harry," he said, trying to sound calm and not at all concerned. The way Hermione had just dragged Harry off was concerning._

"_Ron," he said curtly, stopping beside his friend and crossing his arms. "I think Hermione needs to get away from those books of hers; she's gone batty."_

_The ginger frowned, eyebrows drawing together. "Why do you say that?"_

"_She was going on about something you did to her," the other wizard replied, shaking his head. "She sounded upset, but I just couldn't believe it. I mean Hermione isn't one to lie, but the story she told me did seem a bit… out there."_

"_What did she tell you," he asked, maybe with a bit too much force. The raven-haired Gryffindor looked startled by the vicious tone of his voice, but said nothing about it, just noted the strange reaction to reflect on later._

"_She said you raped her, which just sounds like something out of a bad dream. I mean, we all know you would never do something like that."_

_He pressed his lips together, willing himself to not lose control. How dare she?! She thought that she could go around, telling Harry about matters that had nothing to do with him? Merlin, she had another thing coming. _

"_I need to find her," he said quickly, brushing past his friend, "assure her that I only have her _best _interests in mind," he continued, practically growling. For a moment he thought Harry would clamp a hand down on his shoulder and stop him, but nothing happened and the redhead rushed quickly away, intent on finding the girl who was trying to tarnish his good name._

_Harry watched his friend go. Ron's reaction was concerning, and he nearly thought to follow and not take Hermione's words so lightly, but thought better of it. He would never hurt her, right? Besides, he didn't want to be around when that argument started, and would rather not draw to many questions by all three of them missing class. Turning, he hurried off, hoping not to be late. He needed to think about things, and just hoped he wasn't making a terrible choice by not following Ron. He could trust him, right?_

_Then again, he could trust Hermione too…_

After hearing what Harry had to say, the ginger rushed upstairs. There was no way he would let her get away with that, and even if she was not heading to her dorm room at that moment he was sure to see her at some point, and when he did, there would be hell to pay. She thought she could go around and turn his best friend on him? No, that wouldn't be allowed to happen, and fuck his plan, he needed to teach her a lesson before she went around spreading more rumors.

His ears perked up when the distant sound of footfalls began to echo in the hallway, and peered out just enough to see the witch in question round the corner, seeming to be in no hurry. But then, she didn't appear to be acting too cautious either- she wasn't even looking around to make sure he wasn't lurking. Was she really that confident that he had given up chasing her? _Stupid choice Hermione. _

Pulling out his wand, he cast a spell so that his steps would be mute and another so no one could hear his breathing. He waited until she opened her dorm door, and rushed forwards. Lucky for him, she only glanced around once she was in the room, and barely had time to scream before he had shoved the door shut, locking them in together.

Her eyes were large when he spoke. "Hello Hermione," he cooed, reaching out a hand to touch her cheek, but she slapped his hand away and took a step back. He frowned and took a step forwards, but she took two back, keeping the distance between them. There was already a nice sensitive spot forming on her shoulder from him barreling into her to get inside the room.

"Scared," he taunted, cocking his head.

She pursed her lips, setting her back down slowly. She had her wand in her pocket, but didn't want to pull it out- yet. No, he seemed to be in the mood to talk, so she planned to try to get him to talk. "What are you doing up here? You have class."

He sneered, an ugly trait that she was used to associating more with Malfoy. "A little bird told me you've been trying to ruin my name."

That threw her off. A little bird? What in Merlin's name was he… oh. "Harry found you then," she asked, stepping back once more.

"Yes, _Harry _found me," he growled, rushing towards her, but she had her wand drawn in the blink of an eye, keeping him back. He stopped just in front of her, looking at the object. She had it leveled with his chest, ready to strike at any moment.

"Stay away from me," she said firmly, not at all ready to even have him this close. Images of the things he had tried to do to her flashed through her mind, but she kept a firm grip on her wand. She would not let her determination deter, because if she did she was certain he would gain the upper hand and put her back in a horrible mindset again. No, she would not let him see that she was afraid of him, because that would just make him cocky.

"Don't be like that Hermione," he said, putting on a pout. "I promise, I'm not going to hurt you this time."

"Like I believe that," she spat, never letting her hand waver. "I'm not going to trust anything you say, because ever trusting you was my first mistake."

His expression darkened. "Stop being stubborn woman," he snapped, pulling out his own wand, but she easily disarmed him, bringing his weapon into her hand. Of course, that only fueled his anger.

"You are such a bitch," he spat, before kicking her as hard as he could.

* * *

Class ended, and Draco decided he was worried. Weasley had not shown up through all of class, and although he knew Granger had a free hour, he didn't think it was a coincidence that both Gryffindor's were not accounted for. However, his first target was not to find the redhead when he stood from his desk, but to question the idiot's friend.

"Potter," he called, entering the hallway. The Gryffindor boy turned to glance at him, surprised to hear the blond calling his name. Apparently, so were most of the surrounding students and many paused to gawk at the pair before continuing on their way.

"I'm not in the mood Malfoy," the boy sighed as his rival walked up to him. However any snide look was absent from the blonds aristocratic features just then. He found that odd.

"Have you seen Granger," he asked, "we are supposed to have a meeting next hour, and I don't know where she went."

Now he was thoroughly confused. As far as he knew, before Hermione made him question her sanity, the girl had no plans with him; but the almost worried look spread across Draco's face was really what threw him, and he decided to relent- if only this one time, because he wasn't certain what was going on anymore. "I saw her upstairs a while ago, although I'm not sure where she went."

"Was Weasley with her," he asked, eyebrows drawing together.

Harry shrugged slowly. "I think he may have gone looking for her."

"Damnit Potter," Draco swore, shoving past him. "Do you ever use that thick head of yours to piece things together?" He knew very well what Hermione must've gone to talk to the Wonder Boy about, and she had either not gotten to the bad part of her story or he had not believed her, because he had not stopped his fucking friend from going to find the poor girl. And now, Draco wondered if the ginger had gotten to her again or not.

"What are you talking about Malfoy," Harry called after the blond a bit too late. He rounded a corner without looking back, and the boy sighed.

"Potter what are you yelling about," a Slytherin boy asked, and Harry turned around to see Draco's friend Blaise looking at him with a guarded expression.

"Nothing Zabini," Harry said, moving to leave but stopping when the Italian spoke again.

"Where's Draco off to?"

He sighed. "He went to go find Hermione, and I really think I should follow."

The Slytherin narrowed his eyes. "Granger? Was Weasley possibly with her by any chance?"

The Wonder Boy turned around, giving Blaise a guarded look of his own. "Yes…"

Blaise reached up and patted his shoulder, before he began walking. "Well, you may as well just follow me to McGonagall's office then. You can go on up and find them if you want, but it's just going to be more of a walk."

"What are you talking about Zabini," Harry asked, not moving.

The Italian glanced behind him. "You'll see."

* * *

Draco bolted through the dorm room door, only to find a scene he hadn't been expecting. The Weasel was there- just as he had feared- and had apparently been attempting to hurt her again when his actions were abruptly stopped. The idiot's pants were undone but still up, and his stupefied body lay motionless on the floor.

Immediately he sought out Hermione, she stood only a foot away, wand pointing still at the unmoving body of her attacker. Her clothing- thankfully- seemed to have been barely untouched, if not a little ripped. The only thought that really passed through his mind as he took in the scene before him was a simple phrase; _she's safe. _

He rushed towards her, spinning her to him. Instantly her resolve diminished, but she did not cry like he had feared. She just dropped her wand and rested her head wearily- tentively- against his chest, but he was having none of that. Jerking her back from his body he held her a bit away, running his fingers lightly against her skin. "Are you alright," he asked, not satisfied with a visual conformation unless she agreed that nothing was wrong.

"I'm fine," she said, shaking her head. "He didn't hurt me this time."

He nodded once, before his expression hardened. "So you see now why I'm been telling you to stop delaying," he yelled, pointing to the unmoving body of a still hexed Weasley. "He could've gotten to you again!"

"But he didn't," she replied, shaking her head. "Nothing happened," she said, wondering why there was such an angry look on his features.

"The point is that something almost did," he spat, picking up her wand and shoving it into her hand. "Granger, you've had long enough, but he came after you again. I told you if it happened, that I was through watching, and I'm sticking to that."

She opened her mouth to say something, but he had grabbed her arm and was hauling her from the room before she could even say anything. He had a firm grip on her, and they were out of the room before she even sputtered anything. "Just what are you doing?"

He whirled around. "I gave you time Granger to come up with solutions on your own- and even tell bloody Potter. But he came after you again, and enough is enough. I'm telling someone, whether you like it or not." Releasing her arm, he decided dragging her along would be pointless, since she would probably just chase him anyways. Starting off, his assumption proved to be correct.

"Malfoy," she cried, chasing after him as he retreated down the hall, "you can't do that!"

"Really," he called back, testing the girl, "watch me."

* * *

**A/N: **Please let me know your thoughts! Hope you liked the early update :)


	11. And I'm So Sorry Now

**Disclaimer: **Only the story idea is mine. The characters you recognize and Hogwarts and such are all J. K Rowling's. Thanks to my beta **ashash52009**!

**A/n: **Really fast but enjoy! I'm posting directly before rushing off to work, so no replies to reviews this time, sorry! Hope you enjoy! This story only has three chapters to go!

* * *

**And I'm So Sorry Now**

Hermione hung her head. There were multiple students gathered in the Headmistress's office, all of whom kept looking at her. The woman had flooed someone and was currently speaking to said person through the flames. All Hermione could think about was what people would say when she was forced to tell the occupants of this room just what had happened between her and Ron.

She was quite angry at Draco then, because it was his fault they were up there at all. He had apparently been driven by Ron's newest attack to help make her safe, and by doing this had brought together this little gathering. She sat among the ranks of Blaise, Harry, Ron, Ginny and Draco himself, and she was surprised that the two people she should hate most were the two on either side of her- like walls. It was strange to think of those two as her anchors, versus the other three Gryffindor's there, who had once been the most important people in her life. How things can change overtime.

McGonagall finally turned back to the six gathered students- Ginny whom had been called to the office only minutes ago- and sat herself down in the desk. "There will be a few Auror's arriving in this office in a couple minutes, until then I expect quiet from all of you," she said, looking into each students eyes as she spoke. When Malfoy barged in and demanded an audience with her, simply to inform her that Ron Weasley had been harming Hermione, she had not believed a word he said. After all, he hated the both of them, right?

But Harry Potter had actually voiced that he too thought there was something amiss between the two teenagers, and that had caused her to worry. A lot of things had happened in the past ten minutes, and as soon as the words 'attack' and 'rape' fell out of Draco's mouth, she had to say something. Those weren't things one could just ignore. After asking each teen less than three questions individually, Ginny Weasley had been called to the office, and the Ministry contacted. Something bad had certainly happened, and Minerva was determined to get to the bottom of it. She would not allow something like that to be overlooked in her school!

The room remained utterly quiet until the Auror's arrived. Obviously, there was enough tension among the students to cause worry that maybe something bad really had happened. No one wasted anytime with formal introductions, just cut to the chase.

One of the three Auror's, a man of probably thirty, turned to look down at the six gathered students. "Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Draco Malfoy, please remain in here for questioning," he said. "The rest of you please wait in the hall."

"Wait a minute-" Harry began.

"I demand-" Ginny started, but both teens were cut off by a second Auror, a woman this time of perhaps forty, speaking.

"No backtalk, this matter is only going to be discussed amongst the three people who seem to be witness to the scene of the crime," she said, looking pointedly at the three people Minerva had mentioned most. "The rest of you will be called back in soon."

Grumbling, the two Gryffindor's got up and left, but it was Blaise surprisingly who complied without complaint. Two of the Auror's exchanged looks over that. Harry Potter and Ginny were supposed to be rather sensible creatures, yes?

The first Auror- obviously the main one- spoke once the door was shut, as one of his partners cast a silencing spell on the room. "Your Headmistress has alerted me of some rather disturbing news," he began, watching the three with interest. Every time the ginger tried to shift closer to the girl, she shifted closer to the blond. Considering whom these people were, that was quite a sight indeed.

The blond nodded, but the other two seemed determined to ignore the entire situation. "Considering what I have been told, I need a story about what happened- and something tells me not everyone is going to give me the same thing," he said, glancing between Hermione and Ron, before his eyes settled on her. "Would you care to explain what happened between yourself and Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger?"

Hermione glanced to either side of her, between a furious boy and a calm one. Draco reached down and squeezed her hand, but the action wasn't needed. He had decided to take matters into his own hands with this whole ordeal, and now she had to face these people and tell them what happened to her. She wasn't quite sure how well she would take this, but she had to start talking. Malfoy's grip might be unneeded but it was certainly welcome.

Ron couldn't scare her forever- she could do this.

As soon as Hermione started explaining what had happened weeks ago, she couldn't stop. The pressure of keeping things repressed built in her chest and she hurried to explain everything, to get it out in the open and let others know just how horrible Ron could be. The ginger tried interrupting several times, but none of the Auror's would listen to him. Draco for his part remained silent but never released her hand. At some point she ended up leaning against him, but didn't ever remember shifting positions.

When she was finished each person on the opposite side of the desk was looking at her with something between pity and admiration. She couldn't completely understand the looks, but no one bothered to explain them. Silence descended for a single moment, and Ron used this time to begin trying to speak again.

"She's lying!" he spit out, turning his head to glare at her, his anger fueled as his enemy smirked at the ginger over Granger's puffy head, his arm wrapped securely around her waist. If looks could kill…

"Mr. Weasley enough with the outbursts, as we said we will be listening to each person's description of what has happened, but that doesn't mean we will believe each one," he said, the tone of authority showing through.

And so it went on like that. Ron told his version of what happened, and then Draco, before the Auror stood.

"Due to evidence of a serious crime against you Mr. Weasley," he began, looking between each teen, "we will have to arrest you until a trial can be held to determine your fate."

"That's-"

"Furthermore," he continued, talking right over Ron, "Miss Granger, you will need to see your school nurse and take a few tests for us, to help further evidence to at least one of your cases. I'll be arranging a trial as soon as possible, and each of you will need to speak again."

"I-"

"Mr. Weasley, how many times must you interrupt? As I was saying, each of your families will need to be informed of what has happened here," he continued, as Hermione's face paled, "and will be alerted that each of you must stand at trial and explain what happened, so the jury can determine what will happen." Hermione thought he was explaining perhaps a bit too much, as though he was talking to younger students then they were, but said nothing.

A few more quick little side notes, and the man appeared done. "I will be bringing back in the students I have sent into the hall. I'm not sure how either of the boys are involved, and you can inform them at your own discretion. Miss Weasley however will need to be informed, because this is her brother," the man continued, speaking more to his two co-workers then the three students in front of him. The third Auror, also male, walked over to Ron and bound his wrists. Instantly his true temper flared up.

"You can't do this," he snapped, attempting to kick the Auror, "you have no proof yet, just the word of her," he continued, pointing at Hermione. "She could be lying!"

"Perhaps she is lying," the first Auror said with a shrug, "but that will be determined soon. Until then we are required to take you into custody."

Ron's face was bright red as the Auror led him away, his head twisted around to shoot daggers at Hermione, who kept leaning into Draco; she had yet to acknowledge the close proximity. The Head Auror turned back to the two remaining students.

"Return to your dorm. I will be informing your friends of what has happened- if you so wish," he said, noting the worried look on the girls face, "but they will find out one way or another, be it here or at the trial. Since those three students were seemingly, somehow involved, they will be at the trial with you."

Hermione's heart plummeted. She didn't want to imagine what Ginny would do when she found everything out. It would either be in Hermione's favor or against her, but either way the girl would probably be miffed. Harry was already in a sour mood, and Blaise knew pretty much everything. It wasn't telling them though that scared her; it was facing them.

The Auror continued to speak, but she didn't hear him; her mind was being swallowed by her thoughts. It wasn't until Draco began to gently tug on her hand, causing her to rise from her seat, that she even realized it was time to go.

_Merlin save me._

* * *

"Hermione Granger!"

The Gryffindor cringed. She had been back in the dorm barely twenty minutes with Malfoy, just sitting down with a cup of tea to see if she really wanted to talk, when the hammering on the door interrupted any sort of conversation. Granger looked towards the shut entrance, knowing exactly who was on the other side.

This day could not get worse.

"Open this door! How dare you accuse Ron!? How dare you! Stop being a bloody coward! Open the fucking door!"

"I would keep the door shut Granger," a second voice called, directly after the first finished screaming. "She is ready to murder just now!"

She sighed, standing. As she has feared, the girl's reaction was bad. She heard Malfoy move behind her, and as she opened the dorm room's door she felt his comforting embrace as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

A furious Ginny Weasley stood outside, barely being restrained by Blaise. Harry Potter was nowhere to be found, but the ginger's wand lay several feet away, having probably been thrown for Blaise's own safety. Hermione was grateful that he was even bothering to restrain her, otherwise she would've been shoved into the floor the moment the door opened.

Ginny's eyes met hers, "How dare you make up such a lie?! How dare you?! Ron has done nothing but help you and be there for you since first year! How could you go in there with that prick," she screamed, glaring at Malfoy and his wandering limb, which was still wrapped around the brunette, "and make him out to be a horrible person! How dare you?!"

Hermione held up her hands in surrender. "Ginny wait," she said, hoping the girl would calm down, "you haven't even heard me out. I didn't go in there to trash Ron-"

"Then what was your reasoning," she spat, still angry. She had given up her struggle of shaking Zabini off, but had crossed her arms and was now glaring daggers at Hermione again. "He is not a rapist Hermione! How could you ever go in there and treat him like such shit! How can you even stand yourself when you lied so much!?"

She shook her head slowly. "I didn't-"

"Oh yeah," the redhead spat, "you didn't lie, I'm sure. I don't want to hear it Granger, I just want to know what drove you to put Ron in such a horrible situation."

"He raped me," Hermione said, her hand moving to take Draco's. It felt good to have him there to support her. "I had to report it!"

"You lie," she replies, whipping her head around to try and see Blaise's face. "Let me go! I refuse to stand here anymore!"

"I don't think-"

"Let me go," she screamed, looking vicious once more, "I won't stand here anymore and let her tell me a bunch of lies. If Hermione wants to make things up, then she can do it without me standing here!"

"I-" Hermione began, but stopped talking when Draco squeezed her lightly. Talking to the angry girl right now was futile, and would do no good for anyone. Obviously, Ginny was not going to listen to what she had to say, so to keep pushing the subject at the moment was pointless. "Just go," she sighed.

Ginny shoved away from Blaise, who brought her wand to him with a spell, but held it out of her reach. "Give it," she hissed, not paying the two Head's a second thought. Obviously she had come for the sole purpose of venting, and now that it was done she had nothing else to say to either of them.

"Not until we get a safe distance away," he replied jumping out of her reach and taking off down the hall, the girl immediately trying to catch up to him. Draco smirked, knowing she didn't have a chance of catching him, but feeling grateful that the Italian had been around at all to help with that girl's attitude. He wasn't sure how things would've gone, otherwise.

Hermione turned from his grip and walked inside, slumping on the couch. He followed, shutting the door behind him. "What troubles you Granger," he asked, taking a seat on the piece of furniture with her.

She huffed. "Ginny thinks I'm lying and trying to make her bother out to be a horrible person- which he is capable of doing all by himself- and Harry is probably furious with me. No one even seems to really believe my story, and I have some bloody medical tests in the morning!" She threw her hands up, looking at him. "What isn't troubling me?"

He reached over and gently touched her cheek. The action caught her off guard and she froze in surprise. "Stop worrying so much."

"I-"

"It won't do you any good," he continued, not letting her speak. "The facts are there, and I will speak on your behalf. Your friends simply don't believe you because they are a lot of pricks who don't believe what isn't yet proven to them. The tests will show them the truth, so please stop fretting."

Her eyebrows practically shot off her head. Since when was he always the sensible one? Had her emotions really gotten the best of her, again? That was becoming too much of a habit for her liking, but it seemed the habits were not yet broken.

The problem was, she didn't want to think about tests or Ron or her friends. She didn't want to think about anything. She wanted to sleep and ignore the world for a while, but now that Malfoy had gone and reported the attack, everything would be out in the open to the public in a matter of days, and that would be hard to hide from. Oh, she could only imagine the things people would say.

Gingerly, she moved so her head was resting against his chest, catching him off-guard now. Wrapping an arm around his middle, she buried herself against him, wishing for a moment that everything really would disappear, and she could remain here with this prick that had started to grow on her.

And for his part, Malfoy did not pull away.


	12. I Didn't Know, 'Cause We Were so Young

**Disclaimer: **Only the story idea is mine. The characters you recognize and Hogwarts and such are all J. K Rowling's. Thanks to my beta **ashash52009**!

**A/n: **Here's chapter twelve. Two more before we are finished! :( If this story lasts past the 21 of this month, then updates will slow down a lot because of school. But I'm going to try to finish it off beforehand if possible since the chapters are short and I have it planned. We will just have to see how it works. :) I shall try! Anyways, enjoy.

* * *

**I Didn't Know, 'Cause We Were so Young**

_Oh clouds of time, Seem to rain on innocence left behind_

_It never goes away…Can you stay strong? _

_Can you go on? Hermione are you doing okay?_

_A rose that won't bloom, winters kept you, _

_Don't waste your whole life trying, to get back what was taken away._

_Oh clouds of time, Seem to rain on innocence left behind,_

_It never goes away… It never goes away. _

_Can you stay strong? Can you go on?_

_Hermione are you doing okay?_

_A rose that won't bloom, winter's kept you,_

Two days later, the tests were all finished. Hermione thought this would relieve her, but it didn't help much at all. All of the negative answers were things she already knew, and having them face back at her on a chart Pomfrey had shown her did little to calm her nerves. What she was really worried about were her friends- Harry, Ginny and Neville- reacting and still hating her. She couldn't do anything about it if they did, but Merlin she would want to. She didn't want them still hating her. After all, Ginny was exceptionally stubborn and Harry could be difficult.

She sighed, leaning her head against the pillows on her dorm room bed. She would have her answers soon enough. The trial was coming up soon, and they were all required to attend. And something told Hermione the press would be there too. After all, two thirds of the Golden Trio were about to go against one other, with the third part sitting unsure at the side, not knowing what to think. The press was going to have a heyday with this story.

Life wasn't easy, that was for sure, but at least Ron wasn't a constant threat in the halls anymore. For that she was thankful. She wondered when the entire school would catch drift of what had gone on in the Headmistress's office not long ago. Obviously, Ginny's habit of being a bit of a gossip was not coming out on this topic, for although it would make Hermione seem bad, Ron would come off as bad too, and the ginger would never want that to happen.

Did her friends even have mixed feelings on the topic anymore, or had her friends decided where they stood on the matter? She hoped not, for she truly did not want to deal with the loss of people that had been in her life so long, over something that had actually happened to her and severely affected her.

Sighing, she rolled over and buried her face into the pillows. Nothing was fair at the moment- and although she was painfully aware of how awful life could really be to you- she wanted something to hold onto that wasn't angry with her, and the only person she could think of was Malfoy.

For some reason, that thought wasn't as bothering as one would think. He had been very sweet to her throughout this entire experience- even better to her then her so called friends- and that was saying something. He had even let her cry on his chest, his strong arms wrapped around her, and his silent response perfect; she had not wanted to talk.

Part of her wished she were hugging him at that moment; he was far more comforting then her pillow. With a groan, she buried herself into the soft material, hoping to simply find the pleasant nothingness of sleep. _Unless Ron can still appear there too…_

* * *

Draco was in his room too, his mind floating over roughly the same thoughts. His feelings towards the Gryffindor girl had been changing for a while, and letting her cry on him, release some tension, had caused him to lightly smile. He felt good trying to help her, which was a new emotion. Sure, he had enjoyed keeping Weasley away from her and out of his life, but had that been a cover up for deeper emotions? As corny and feminine as it sounded, his mind kept circulating back to that topic.

He rubbed his temples. Why oh why did he have to focus on that? It would be easier if his emotional attachment to Granger was strictly to keep her safe, so he didn't have to deal with another trembling, sobbing mess. But no, he had to go and start feeling… whatever this was for her! And that was oh so frustrating.

_But it probably pissed fucking Weasley off. Which reminds me, I wonder how the prick is fairing?_

* * *

Ron Weasley was not fairing well at all. People really glare down at you- despite your position as Harry bloody Potter's friend- when it is rumored that you have sexually assaulted someone. Obviously, just who that someone was had been kept under wraps, for no one in the Ministry had come thundering down the stairs to the holding chambers to scream nasty words at him.

At least, not in person. Unfortunately for the ginger, his family had to be notified, and the letter that came from his mother that morning had been less then pleasant. The fact that it was a howler only made it worse, but all he could be thankful for was that none of the other people down there could hear it, because the cells were charmed to be silent but constantly monitored. He had tried to cut off the noise his mother's angry voice made by covering his ears, but it hadn't worked. It wasn't as much the tone of her voice through the majority of her article, but the way she seemed unsure about whether or not this trial was a scam. He was her son! She should believe him over Hermione!

But still, her letter had been highly unfriendly to read. Each line replayed in his head again;

_Ronald Weasley! Have never been more disappointed in you! I can hardly stand to call you my son! The Ministry informed me this morning about your treatment to Hermione, and I am completely ashamed! Raping the girl? I thought I taught you to treat women better then that! Hermione is so sweet, how could you ever treat her like that!?_

_At first I didn't believe the letter sent to me from the Auror's who spoke to you, but I was informed about some tests Hermione took, and each one came up positive to you. How the hell can you do that to someone! I can't stand you at the moment Ron, and you certainly need some time to correct your behavior if you think this is how to treat a girl!_

_I will be at your trial, mark my words! If you are proven innocent, I will forever stand by your side. But if the facts do truly show that you can be a monster, don't expect I or your father's support once you get to Azkaban! If you can go through with an action like that then you can suffer the consequences!_

_Really Ron, how on earth did it even get to this point? Draco Malfoy is even involved in this matter! How in Merlin's beard did that happen? I also asked around, but your father was able to testify that the Malfoy boy will be on her side during all of this. Would you like to explain to us why you and Hermione are on opposite sides of this? Shouldn't Draco Malfoy be playing the bad guy? I expect answers when I arrive young man, and they better match up to what the court brings up! No lies!_

_I have owled all your brothers and Ginny, and each one of them will attend, as well as Harry. I am so hopeful Ron that they are coming to support you, not stare on at you in disgust by the end of all of this._

_I will see you in a few days, and then you have a lot of explaining to do! _

And like in second year, the letter stuck its tongue out at the redhead angrily before tearing itself to pieces. He had stared on at the torn letter, angry and shocked. It had all been a twist of whether or not she believed her son over the apparent information the Ministry had given her. How could they! This was his family and he should be able to prove to them in court that he was a good man, and had never hurt Hermione.

Which he would. He refused to go to Azkaban for taking something owed to him for months. It was a simple fact that she had held out too long and he had been waiting patiently, but enough had been enough. He wanted what was owed to him, and that was it. The court had to realize that, right?

He sighed, leaning back against the uncomfortable bed given to him. He just couldn't wait to get out of there, but he really couldn't wait for Hermione to come to her senses. When would she realize she had enjoyed it?

_She's probably off with that prick someplace anyways. _That thought made him grit his teeth. That Malfoy had stepped between them and the rift formed by her denial of liking his actions had grown at the blonds constant presence. Now she was probably more comfortable with the prick then her former boyfriend, and that was ridiculous. Malfoy would end up hurting her worse than he had, and he couldn't believe she was being so stupid as to trust that prick.

_Oh well though, everyone's true colors shine through at some point._

* * *

Draco and Blaise sat in the Head's common room that night. "They're still unsure," the Italian said, shrugging his shoulders.

Malfoy pursed his lips. "That's the problem though, they're unsure about what happened," he snapped, standing and pacing the space. They had been talking about this for twenty minutes, and still didn't know how to make Gryffindor's Princess feel better about her crumbling friendships. After all, she needed friends the most right now, and although Draco and Blaise had decided to help her, they just weren't Ginny or Harry and they both knew it. She wanted the comfort of people who had been in her life for years, for exception from the people who were temporarily mad at her, and neither of the Slytherin's could give her that.

"They need to be on her side, not leaning towards the gingers," Malfoy said after a moment's pause, sighing.

"The best way for them to really understand what happened is to wait for the trial. Will you stop trying to push the matter so? It will happen, and they are bound to see, but worrying about it right now will do no one any good."

The blond rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I suppose. But I best check on that girl, she's been holed up in that room all day long."

Blaise smiled a knowing smile. He had been paying attention to how the two's body language bounced off each other these past weeks. "Of course," he said, standing. "I'll see you in a few days."

The Slytherin Prince barely acknowledged him with a nod as his friend departed, his mind traveling back to a few days prior when he comforted her. Were her emotions jumping off the walls again? Walking to her door, he nudged the almost closed door open with his foot and peered inside.

She was asleep, seemingly having been crying. He found that odd, since she was supposed to be getting better, but the closer he got the more obvious the wet lines on her face became. Sighing, he reached a hand down and brushed her hair off her shoulder, away from her wet face. She looked peaceful, and that in itself was comforting. The journey was almost over, and hopefully once the case was sorted through she would get better, and be herself again- with the exception of being kinder to him. A part of him hoped they wouldn't go back to hating each other.

Reaching over, he pulled her duvet over her body to keep the chilled winter air away. Hogwarts was, after all, a castle with stone walls. Tucking her in up to her chin, he couldn't resist placing a gentle kiss to her temple.

"Sleep well Granger; you'll need all the rest you can get."

* * *

**A/n: **Kind of a filler chapter, but what do you think?


	13. Don't Waste Your Whole Life Trying

**Disclaimer: **Only the story idea is mine. The characters you recognize and Hogwarts and such are all J. K Rowling's. Thanks to my beta **ashash52009**!

**A/n: **Here's chapter thirteen. I told you I would try to update early! So enjoy :)

* * *

**Don't Waste Your Whole Life Trying**

_Guilty. _

That was the single word that echoed through Ginny's mind as she sat in the hall, just after the trial where her _brother _was proven guilty of raping one of her best friends. Her head rested on her knees, as she hid from the world. Somewhere at her side stood Harry, although she couldn't even imagine how he was feeling.

She had called Hermione such horrible things… let her friend stand on her own when she was just trying to tell the truth. Honestly, Ginny was a bit torn at the moment with her feelings, seeing as her brother had indeed been responsible, but the most overwhelming emotion raging through her body at the moment was pure regret.

How could she have ever been so heartless to her? Fucking Malfoy spoke out against Ron about what he had witnessed, and why he did not bring the issue to light earlier. When he had gotten down off the podium Hermione had thrown her arms around him and cried, shying away from Ron's angry gaze that had never once left her. When the ginger had tried to call her horrible things though, she had not had a problem at all with dealing with him. It was almost aw-inspiring, to see that she could still stand up to someone who did that to her, even if that someone was Ginny's flesh and blood.

Evidence was revealed quickly in court, and not once did anyone in the Weasley family stand to try and help Ron. Harry had sat at Ginny's side, looking on at the person he called his best friend in disgust. The two had nearly broken into a screaming match in the middle of the hearing, and Bill had to remove Harry from the room for several minutes so he could calm down.

And Harry had hit a lot of things in the hallway; he was simply ashamed at his behavior, and did not know how to handle it. He had called her a liar, when she had been trying to gain his support on the issue. How could he be so stupid? Hermione didn't lie.

Throughout the entire session he had wanted to go and hug his best friend, but she was sitting just a bit further down the rows of seats, sandwiched between Zabini and Malfoy. The blonds hand had been blood red by the time the final verdict was decided from Hermione's grip on it throughout the hearing. Harry had looked on at that with a lost expression. She gripped onto the ferret for support in something he should be at her side for. He had to truly of fucked up then.

But then, Hermione had not seemed disappointed in her choice of company. When Ron was sentenced to twenty years in Azkaban, she had jumped up and onto the blond, clinging to him happily and possibly cutting off his air. After clawing the overjoyed, relieved girl from his neck, the blonds only response had been that Weasley deserved life in that place.

Harry had not agreed. He knew Ron had been wrong, out of line, and completely cruel. But he also thought that deep down, the ginger was better than that. You didn't go through seven years of your life knowing someone without getting to know their tendencies at least a bit, right? Ron could change for the better he believed, if he would only try.

But that would be up to Ron, in twenty years, give or take a year. He would never be allowed within a good distance of Hermione again however; their friendship was ultimately over, and would probably build a rift between Harry and his best friends in later years- although he didn't think Ron classified as a best friend any longer.

The-boy-who-lived didn't even know what Ron's parents thought on the matter, just at the first chance they got that they had gone over, hugged Hermione- who was still surrounded by Blaise and Draco- whispered something to her, and left.

All the other Weasley's save Ginny had done the same. Now there were five students remaining in the Ministry, waiting for McGonagall or Auror's to take them back to school.

The two Gryffindor's watched from the other side of the hallway as Hermione jumped up into Draco's arms again, smiling. Blaise stood some distance from the too, not watching them. He had been hugged on the way out, and knew that although Gryffindor's Princess was grateful to him, it was really Malfoy she wanted to talk to. And considering how he believed each of them felt for each other, he could believe that.

Hermione had been hugging Draco for quite some time when she finally pulled away. "Thank you," she breathed her face full of life. It was the best she had looked to Draco in a long time, since perhaps even before her rape.

He grinned, a real grin back at her. "You can stop thanking me you know. If I do recall, a few days ago you hated me for telling anyone."

Her eyes looked down, and in that brief moment he noted where her friends were; the Gryffindor's were a bit closer to Blaise then him, with one of them staring blatantly at them and the other peering at the two through her red hair. _Interesting_.

"I know," she said, drawing back his attention, "and I shouldn't have. I feel better than I have felt in weeks."

"Good to hear," Draco grinned, brushing some stray hairs from her face. His feelings towards this girl had certainly changed lately, and the notion to kiss her suddenly took over. That was a bit strange, wasn't it? He was still considering the thought when Potter finally decided to make his way over and ruin the whole bloody moment.

"Hermione," he said slowly, rubbing the back of his head nervously. She turned to look at Harry, grabbing Draco's hand as she did so. She didn't have a reason to, just wanted to. The action caught both boys off guard for a moment, and Harry cleared his throat before continuing. "I know I can never say it enough really, but I'm so sorry for not believing you."

"You can say that again," Draco grumbled from behind Hermione, but she ignored him.

"It's not just that you didn't believe me Harry," she said, sighing. "It's that you flatly refused to listen to anything I said, and called me a liar for telling you the truth. It's the fact that you couldn't trust me as a friend."

"I know," he began, "and I'm sorry-"

He cut himself off as Hermione held up a hand, silencing him. She noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, and saw Ginny stand, walking over to be by Harry side. "We truly are sorry Hermione." She said, not allowing the brunette to continue.

"I understand," she said weakly, "and I do believe you. But you did hurt me- emotionally- and that does take a bit of repair on friendships. I'm not mad at either of you for your reactions- I rightly can't be- but I do think it may take a bit to feel better about how you treated me."

Ginny nodded slowly, giving her a sad smile. "I expected as much." Shifting her gaze to Malfoy, it moved from a sad expression to something between irritated and uncertain. "But I suppose you do have ferret boy by your side…"

"One bloody trip as a ferret and people can't let it go," Draco muttered from behind the brunette.

"Yes I do," she said, smiling lightly as an Auror walked towards the group.

"I am here to escort Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy back to school. Another Auror will be along in a moment to take the rest of you."

Although Granger thought the way they were split up was odd, she said nothing and turned her attention to her friends once more. "See you at breakfast tomorrow then?"

Both Gryffindor's faces shattered into happy smiles. "Of course," Ginny said, although the sadness was still evident in her voice. Hermione nodded, and after short goodbyes to everyone- including Blaise- she turned and left the group, still gripping Malfoy's hand.

* * *

"Was that as bad as you thought it would be," Draco asked when they entered the common room, collapsing on the couch. She had finally let go of his hand.

She shrugged. "It was kind of humiliating."

He raised an eyebrow. "It was the truth, and the truth had to come out at some point. Not one person who attended that trial looks down at you any differently you know- and it's not like court details can really be spread around that much. You shouldn't be feeling humiliated- relieved maybe, but not humiliated."

Hermione smiled lightly, sitting beside him. "Yeah, I guess I do. It was terrible though to go up and state everything he did to me in front of everyone- I mean, his _family_ was there!"

Draco shrugged, sitting up a bit so he and Granger were quite a bit closer. "Yes they were, and now they all know the truth. It was necessary."

"I know," she sighed, resting her arm on the back of the couch. She looked down as she spoke again, "Thank you for speaking on my behalf. You were really the only one who could help me in this case."

"Ah-ah," Draco replied, frowning. "There were plenty of tests present proving the same point, I just helped confirm the information further because I was a witness. Although I could have dealt without the veritaserum- that shit is terrible."

The Gryffindor rolled her eyes. "It wasn't that bad."

"I suppose, they could have always made me use a pensieve." Hermione shuddered at that thought; imagining showing anyone a playback of her rape was horrifying. Thank Merlin the veritaserum had been sufficient enough.

"See, it wasn't that bad," she said, smiling. He got caught in that smile- for it was genuine, and drew him in.

"No, it wasn't," he breathed, reaching out to brush her hair away again. The moment had returned, and he moved his eyes to look into hers, his hand coming up to cup her cheek, silently asking for her permission. He didn't want to scare her, after all.

When she didn't shy away from his touch, he took that as a good sign and leaned in, letting his lips slide against her, keeping the kiss as sweet and tender as possible.

He smirked against her lips when she began kissing back. Letting his hand drift from her cheek to the back of her neck, he leaned in a bit more, pressing her lips against his just a bit more. Her hand came up and rested against his chest.

And then he pulled back, resting his forehead against hers. "You don't understand how long I have been trying to keep from doing that."

Her eyes met his. "What do you mean?"

He smirked and pulled away, leaving his arm to rest around her shoulders. "Well, you have been a bit emotional lately Granger. I didn't want to try anything and have you freak out on me."

She raised and eyebrow, crossing her arms. "You know it's a terrible idea to inform a female she is being emotional."

Draco chuckled, "Yes, probably. And you can yell at me all you want for that comment later, but aren't you ruining a perfectly nice moment by being a smartarse?"

The girl looked down, grinning. Her fingers traced lines on his chest where her hand still lay, "Yes, probably."

He clicked his tongue, gently grabbing her chin so she would look back at him. "Well, stop." And then he kissed her deeply again, just to enforce his point. His arm pulled her closer, and he was thrilled when she didn't stiffen at all.

Pulling away, he pecked her nose. "It's late, we should probably get to bed."

Nodding she stood. "Yes, our _separate _beds."

Draco held up his hands. "I didn't suggest anything Granger."

"I know," she said, reaching over to clasp his hand, the same one she had been holding onto all day, and had probably bruised. "And by the way Malfoy," she continued, looking up into his eyes.

"Hmm?"

"It's Hermione."

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**A/n: **Tada! A kiss! Now let me explain; I didn't want to focus this chapter on the trial so much (since we pretty much already know everything that happened and how things would go) but the aftermath. So I did just that. I hope you guys like it!

There's only one chapter left after this, so please leave a review my loves :)


	14. To Get Back What Was Taken Away

**Disclaimer: **Only the story idea is mine. The characters you recognize and Hogwarts and such are all J. K Rowling's. Thanks to my beta **ashash52009**!

**A/n: **Oh my god! The final chapter :) I can't believe it's over! Well, I told you I would try to have it up before I went back to school, and tada, I succeed! I hope all of you lovely readers enjoy this final piece.

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**To Get Back What Was Taken Away**

_To get back what was taken away…_

"Are you ready," he asked, breathing on her face.

She nodded, looking more than a bit annoyed. "I suppose I am."

Draco turned his head, watching her closely. "We don't have to do this you know. You don't have to do this. We can turn around and leave right now if you wish."

Hermione looked up at the blond at her side, his hand holding hers tightly. She knew he didn't want to be there at all, for he was perhaps afraid of who he would meet. It had taken some special manipulation of McGonagall to allow two students off campus to journey to Azkaban. But hey, they were both legally adults in the wizarding world, so there was nothing saying they did not have a right to enter those dark walls.

It still didn't make the adventure pleasant. His hand in hers, she turned wordlessly and began the long journey behind their guide to find their destination. Multiple people, horrid in appearance, hung at the magical bars that kept them back, leering. He pulled her closer to him, glaring everyone he could down. Why did they have to come to this place?

Following just behind Hermione, he took a moment to reflect. It had been over a month since the trial, and she was finally back to her old self- with the exception of the blond man behind her being her boyfriend. The uproar that had caused at school had not been pleasant in the least bit, but he thought she dealt awfully well with the criticism spat at her by students about him and the reports of what Ron had done.

He had hexed an awful lot of people for all those comments, after she had herself of course. He got shit for the relationship from Slytherin house as well, but learned long ago to simply ignore the pricks in his house.

That being said, the pricks in Granger's house hand finally come around. He wasn't entirely sure how far she trusted the ginger and Potter as friends, but they talked during meals and she was always smiling. Draco had found he loved her smile more than one would imagine.

The mature calm in which Hermione dealt with peoples hate was inspirational. Had he been the one in her situation, and Granger the helping hand, he would have lost his mind. But it did seem that the bloody girl harbored more self control then he did, although he would never admit to that.

They rounded a corner and a man, who apparently had pushed through the wards, grabbed out at his girlfriend. He snatched her away, but the Gryffindor had the man in a body bind long before their guide ever had the barrier built back up. Draco smirked; it was nice to see her not take shit like that. He could take that as proof that she was well in life again.

Soon, they reached their destination. The guard put a silence spell around himself so that he could stand away from the pair and not hear their conversation, but still be able to hex the prisoner if he got out of line- like trying to hit the female, even through the bars; he simply was not allowed to leave visitors unattended in a place like this.

"Hello Ron," Hermione said, once the guard at stepped back. She let Draco place his arm around her shoulders as her former attacker looked up, and felt better that she had agreed to bring the blond along. The redhead's expression may have been sad, but his eyes were completely livid.

"Hermione," he replied, his voice a bit raw. His eyes roamed over the arm around her shoulders, up to the masked expression on the blonds face. "I see you brought Malfoy with."

"I wasn't coming here alone," she replied, as though it were obvious. She moved closer to Malfoy however, not out of fear but to prove her point. "This place is horrid."

"Yes," he hissed, standing and stalking to the bars. She nearly shied away until she remembered that magic kept him from being able to touch her. "Yes, this place is fucking horrid! And this is the place you sent me to!" He jabbed out at her, the magic keeping him at bay. "It's all your fucking fault!"

"Weasley, it's entirely your own fault," Draco spoke up, raising an eyebrow at the ginger. He wondered if it would be completely inappropriate to hex him at that moment, but the guard may throw him out, so the Slytherin restrained himself. "You don't have anyone to blame but yourself. Your actions led you to this hell."

He huffed, turning away to resume the same spot on the floor. "Hermione is just as much at fault here you dumb arse."

She felt Draco tense a bit at her side, and decided to say something. "Nothing I did got me locked away here," she replied, reaching to grab Draco's opposite hand, the one that was not currently wrapped around her.

The ginger sneered in the dim light, but said nothing. A short silence followed before he bothered to spit something else out. "What do you want?"

"I came to thank you." Hermione said, and his head snapped up, while the blonds turned to stare at her, a confused expression playing at his features, "for ruining my life. If you hadn't done what you did, I wouldn't have found the happiness I now have." She smiled up at Draco. "So although I can't say I like you, or even think I can stand being in the same room with you again after today, I'd like to thank you for not letting me waste anymore time on you."

He jumped up, slamming into the bars of his prison. Draco moved to pull her back, but she shrugged him off; Ron couldn't touch her. "Your fucking bitch," he spat, glaring her down. From the corner of her eye she spotted the guard stepping forwards, so she turned and shook her head, smiling. He was no threat.

"Call me whatever you want Ron," she said looking him in the eyes, "but I am finally through with everything that happened. It was awful, but where it has led me to something I would have never found otherwise."

Ron opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "I refuse to dwell on you anymore. You hurt me and betrayed me, and that's the bottom line. I don't see us ever being friends again, and that is the truth. I didn't come here to talk to you civilly, because there is nothing to talk about. I came here simply because I needed to close this entire ordeal in my mind- I needed the closure provided with talking. So that is all Ronald, and I wish you a happy life rotting away down here."

Anyone with eyes could see that the ginger was livid, but his ex did not stay around to talk. Turning away, she kept a hold of Draco's hand and walked out of sight of Ron, trying to ignore the redheads shouts as she left. Once Ron was out of sight, she turned and glanced up at Draco.

"I need to thank you too," she said quietly, looking down, "for coming with me today and just everything you did to help me."

Grabbing her chin, Draco forced her to look up at him, and smiled. "There is nothing to thank me for, I did everything because I apparently _wanted _to."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Apparently?"

"Yes, apparently," he replied, just as the guard walked up to them, explaining that it was time to go. Hermione grabbed Draco's hand, smiling, and walked away with him from the one person who had left her broken.

That chapter of her life was over, from the moment she stepped into Azkaban. With closure of the mind came closure of the issue, and she was very ready to move on from those events.

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Waiting outside of Azkaban wasn't comforting. The two students could not figure out why the Ministry Auror that brought them could not wait around to return them to school, but the blond had tried to convince her twice now to just apparate back outside the school border and walk. She promptly refused, and kept saying that the Ministry would think something had happened to them if they tried that. He had dropped the topic soon after his third try.

Now they sat in silence. Hermione took this time to reflect on her biggest problem- explaining everything to her parents. It wasn't like they hadn't been informed about the trial concerning the attack on their daughter, but she may have replaced the letter McGonagall tried to send through. So her poor parents only knew about something happening to her, and she had been harassed with letters for weeks now. Tomorrow she would return home- just for the weekend- and explain what had occurred. It was not a visit she was looking forward to.

The Gryffindor glanced over at the Slytherin beside her. They had been dating a brief few weeks- during which time Harry had tried to, calmly, make her 'see reason' more than once- and during that time she had gotten comfortable with the blond. They had not been in a relationship long, but he had, after all, really been the only one around throughout the duration of her rape, and the aftermath. Her friends barely batted an eye her way. There was of course Blaise, but all three of them knew there would never be anything between Blaise and Hermione, that much was obvious.

She reached out and grasped his hand, earning herself a rare smile from the blond. He smiled enough for her liking, but they only ever seemed to be directed her way. Most everyone else received an uncommon grin, or the usual Malfoy smirk. She liked it when he smiled best though, because it really warmed up his face.

Gripping his hand, she thought back to her parents again. However would she explain this? They were already hesitant towards the wizarding world, and the fact that their daughter was raped in it- by a friend, no less- would only promote their hate, even if the same sort of crime was committed in the muggle world as well, she knew they wouldn't focus on that fact.

But Draco had sworn that he would come and help her, even if the idea of stepping into a muggle home made him sick. That fact alone had made her braver. Not only that, but Ginny, Harry and even Blaise offered to come along and help. The support from friends- and a new Slytherin friend- was great, but she wasn't sure yet if it were wise to bring all of those people or not. Her parents were going to be horrified as it was, and dropping three extra people into the problem would do no good.

She rubbed her nose, the cool air causing it to run slightly. Harry and Ginny had come around, but there was still so much distance between them, that she hadn't even told them that her parents were unaware that she was even raped. They thought she was simply going to explain who and why- and thinking about it now, Ginny would probably only make the situation worse, it being her brother and all. Pulling her jacket closer, she leaned against Draco's side and let him wrap his arm around her shoulders.

Was it bad that this was the only person she wanted there to help her? This boy, who had made her life hell for six years, before trying to make it better? Her parents would have a fit when they found out the two of them were dating, but that was a completely different topic she couldn't even worry about right now. Despite everything, it seemed Malfoy had turned out to be an okay git after all.

He even turned out to be better then Ron Weasley.

Glancing up at the man holding her, she smiled. He returned the gesture, leaning to capture his lips with hers. She sighed, happy with the contact. Just sitting there, enjoying his company, his lips, made the daunting task ahead of her seem a bit less intimidating.

When he pulled back and rested his head against hers, he had smirked down at her. Grinning back, she closed her eyes. The hardest part of all of this was over. Telling her parents now, with Malfoy by her side could be tolerated if it had to be.

It wasn't until the Auror arrived that they moved from that position, and Hermione left the gates of Azkaban feeling lighter then she had since school began.

_~FIN~_

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**A/n: **No, they didn't announce their undying love for each other, and I never planned for them to. The story is too short, and it was based on recovery from what Ron did to her and the aftermath, but not a huge, blossoming relationship between the pair. Yes, I wrote this under romance, but its limited, since it's really just beginning.

Besides, in real life not a lot of people have undying love after a month…

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this little story. It's only about half as long as the original version I took down, but twice as good :) Thanks for reading, and leave a review to tell me what you thought!

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**There is a banner for this and other stories on my facebook page! Check them out! The link is on my profile because links never stay on updates. There is also a sneak preview banner of my upcoming story, _Smittenly Bitten_. :)


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